It was never in doubt as the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks laid a 13-2 beating on the Lucknow Lancers at the Southampton Coliseum on Friday night.
The game was sponsored by BJS Electric, and Ben Fritzley and Emmett Jackson dropped the puck on behalf of BJS, with Winterhawks forward Matt Shields, a BJS electrician, taking the faceoff for the home side.
Despite some technical difficulties, a jam packed Coliseum crowd helped out special guest anthem singer Stevie Vallance belt out a wonderful rendition of O Canada, and it sparked the Winterhawks, who needed just nine seconds to jump out to a 1-0 lead.
Logan Freiburger opened the scoring, followed by Mike Fiegehen, Luke Pither and Mike Johnstone, who paced the Winterhawks to a 4-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old.
Miles MacLean added a tap-in before Lucknow got one back at the end of the period, and it was a 5-1 Winterhawks lead after one.
Lucknow came out with a better showing to start the second and made a game of it, albeit briefly, when Lucknow captain Chase Chapman unloaded a slapshot past Winterhawks goalie Tristan Lewis to cut the Winterhawks lead to 5-2.
As the second period wore on, the Winterhawks put it out of reach with authority, with Medric Mercier, Theo Peckham, Pither and MacLean scoring in the final six minutes of the second period to give the Winterhawks a commanding 9-2 lead after two.
The Winterhawks kept the pedal down in the third, as Peckham added his second, then Andy Fracz before Pither completed the hat-trick with a shorthanded goal.
Freiburger bookended the scoring to make it a 13-2 final for the Winterhawks, who outshot Lucknow 50-26.
Of note, Pither recorded three goals and three assists, while Andy Mitchell kept his torrid scoring pace with five assists.
In the midst of all the goals, a Winterhawks record was set, as Brent MacDermid played in his 250th game as a Winterhawk. A milestone in and of itself, MacDermid became the Winterhawks all-time games played leader, surpassing Greg Thede.
MacDermid added two assists in the process, to give him 370 points in his 250 games.
The win clinched a playoff spot in the Ontario Elite Hockey League's Paxton Trophy Playoffs, which begin the weekend of February 7th.
The Winterhawks still have one more game to play in the regular season, the final Voyago road trip, which is also the shortest, as they travel to Ripley next Saturday night, January 25th, when they face the first-place Wolves at 7:00 p.m.