Feb 10, 2024 | Winterhawks News | 1081 views
Jones Blasts OT Winner
Chad Jones provided the heroics as the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks prevailed 2-1 in overtime in Game 2 on Saturday night in Creemore.
The low-scoring affair was not for the faint of heart, as the two playoff rivals stepped up the intensity after Friday night's blowout at The Plex.
Creemore came to play, as expected, and opened the scoring just shy of the midway point of the first period.
Winterhawks starting goalie Clayton Fritsch was beaten on that one, but was perfect the rest of the way, putting on a spectacular performance in the Winterhawks net all night long.
The Winterhawks picked up a power play moments after the goal, and while they couldn't officially convert with the advantage, Dan Zweep knotted the game up at 1-1 just four seconds after the penalty had ended.
Nick Quaid and Justin Marlowe assisted on Zweep's goal.
The goaltenders and penalty killers took over from there, as the whistles came out frequently for the rest of the night.
A Winterhawks power play was quickly negated by a penalty of their own late in the first to send the game tied to the second period.
Each team had three power play opportunities in the second period, but again, the power play units were blanked as the goalies refused to budge.
The chippy play between the two rivals continued in the third, resulting in more power play opportunities.
The Winterhawks couldn't convert on the power play early in the third, then Creemore had an opportunity just past the midway point, but Fritsch would not allow any pucks to get behind him.
A golden opportunity presented itself to the Winterhawks when Creemore was whistled for a kneeing penalty with 3:40 left in regulation, a mandatory double-minor penalty.
The power play came up empty, and was negated with 37-seconds left when the Winterhawks took a too-many men bench minor, setting up a brief Creemore power play to start overtime.
The Winterhawks killed it off and kept playing five-on-five until 12:03 of the extra frame, when Creemore was whistled for hooking.
Much like their first goal of the night, it wasn't an official power play goal, but Jones wound up for the big point shot just seven seconds after the penalty expired, blasting the puck past Creemore goalie Mason Kameka to give the Winterhawks the victory.
Trevor Smith and Justin Donnelly assisted on the game winning goal.
It was an overtime win that had avoided the Winterhawks for an exceptionally long time, nearly five years to the day of their most recent playoff overtime win, on February 19, 2019, snapping an 0-for-6 playoff overtime winless streak.
The Winterhawks now lead the best-of-seven OEHL Cup quarterfinal series 2-0, and will be back home this Friday night, February 16th, for Game 3 at The Plex at 8:30 p.m.