Dec 01, 2024 | Winterhawks News | 119 views
Weekend Split
The Saugeen Shores Winterhawks shrugged off a home loss with a resounding road win to split the weekend.
The Winterhawks were in tough Friday night at The Plex, taking on the Ontario Elite Hockey League's defending champion Minto 81's.
The rather lengthy injury list got a bit shorter with returns of Mike Johnstone and Cam Lightfoot, but it remained a tall task with a number of the team's key players still missing from the lineup.
Things started off well for the Winterhawks, who picked up a Ristorante ROSINA power play early in the contest with Minto taking a too-many-men penalty.
Mike Fiegehen put the Hawks up 1-0 just 1:32 into the game on the power play, sniping the top corner of the net from Brent MacDermid and Andy Mitchell.
The Winterhawks held their own against Minto for the remainder of the period, and it was 1-0 heading to the second.
The 81's got it back 1:21 into the second, scoring off the rush to even the game at 1-1.
The Winterhawks couldn't convert on a power play and immediately afterwards, Minto jumped on a Winterhawks turnover and made it a 2-1 lead for the 81's at 8:42 of the second.
The officials took over the game momentarily, whistling the Winterhawks for three minor penalties in a span of a minute and 49 seconds.
The penalty killers did an outstanding job limiting Minto's chances, while the referees perhaps sought to even up the penalties, as they whistled Minto for a penalty just two seconds after the third minor to the Winterhawks.
Minto went ahead 3-1 late in the second period to put the Winterhawks in a tough spot heading to the third.
The 81's were content to kill the clock for the majority of the third period, until a breakaway at 13:46 made it a 4-1 game.
Minto added an empty netter to make it a 5-1 final for the visitors. Fiegehen was named The Wismer House Player of the Game.
The Winterhawks rebounded in fine fashion on Sunday afternoon, making a snowy trek down to Milverton to face the Milverton 4-Wheel Drives, coming away with a 7-3 victory.
Luke Pither rejoined the lineup on Sunday, making his presence felt immediately, scoring off the rush 2:14 into the game, from MacDermid and Josh Urbshott.
Jordan Vanhaelemeesch made it 2-0 at 5:10 when the Hawks cut off a Drives break out, and Justin Marlowe centered a pass to Vanahaelemeesch in the slot.
Fiegehen continued his power play work at 8:23 when he broke into the Milverton zone and used his lacrosse hands to go top shelf on the Milverton goalie. Urbshott assisted on the goal that made it 3-0 Winterhawks.
Andy Mitchell put the Hawks up 4-0 at 16:45 when he got a stick on Lightfoot's point shot. Fiegehen also assisted on the goal.
Milverton got one back late in the period and the Winterhawks led 4-1 after one.
The second period was tighter checking until 10:06 when Curtis Johnston got the puck down low to Fiegehen, who fed the puck out front to Mitchell. He made no mistake to give the Winterhawks a 5-1 lead, which held until the third period.
A slow start to the third period hampered the Winterhawks again, with Milverton making it 5-2 just 15-seconds into the third.
Milverton made it a 5-3 game at 8:52 off the rush, making things closer than the Winterhawks had hoped for.
The Winterhawks snuffed out any hope of a Milverton comeback at 14:21 of the third when Justin Donnelly drove the Milverton net and stuffed the puck in to make it a 6-3 game. Marlowe and Vanhaelemeesch assisted on the goal.
Milverton pulled their goalie late in the third to attempt the comeback again, but Urbshott added the empty netter to make it a 7-3 final for the Winterhawks.
The Winterhawks will be off for a week, heading back out on a Voyago Road Trip on Sunday afternoon, December 8th, when they make the long trek to Erin to face the Erin Outlaws at 3:30 p.m.