Feb 21, 2025 | Winterhawks News | 183 views
Winterhawks Advance to Semi-Finals
It was a white-knuckle ride as the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks held on for a series win over the Tavistock Royals.
The Winterhawks and Royals went down to the final buzzer, with the 'Hawks prevailing 5-3 to take the Ontario Elite Hockey League quarterfinal series in five games.
It was a tight checking game early on, as expected in an elimination game.
As has been the norm in this series, the Winterhawks went on the penalty kill early and often, killing a penalty in the first five minutes, and then ending up on a 5-on-3 disadvantage to end the period.
The 'Hawks picked up their lone power play of the night in between, but couldn't capitalize, and it was a 0-0 game to end the first period.
Penalty killers came up big to kill off the two-man disadvantage, but were sent right back to the penalty kill within minutes.
The 'Hawks killed it off again, thanks in large part to the outstanding play of goaltender Clayton Fritsch, who put on a clinic in the Winterhawks net all night long.
It was Game 4's overtime hero who got the 'Hawks on the board.
Matt Shields scored after heading into the Tavistock zone with Andy Mitchell. Shields fed a pass over to Mitchell, his shot was stopped, but the rebound lay in the crease for Shields, who had a wide open net to make it 1-0 'Hawks at 11:41 of the second.
Late in the period, Brent MacDermid sent Logan Freiburger in on a rush, Freiburger had a step on the Tavistock defender and snapped a quick shot in to give the 'Hawks a 2-0 lead at 17:15.
The good vibes were short lived. Tavistock scored twice in the final two minutes of the second period and it was a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes.
The Winterhawks may have bent, but they did not break. Mitchell won the opening faceoff of the third period to Chad Jones.
Jones fed a pass over to Medric Mercier, who sent the puck to Mitchell at the blue line. Mitchell stepped in to the Tavistock zone and fired a quick shot past Tavistock goalie Graeme Noye to give the Winterhawks a 3-2 lead just nine seconds into the third period.
Tavistock picked up yet another power play midway through the period, but again, Fritsch and the Winterhawks penalty killers were having none of it, and killed it off to send the series into the homestretch.
Tavistock pulled the goalie with two minutes left in regulation, and it was Captain Miles MacLean stealing the puck and firing one from the far blue line into the empty net to give the Winterhawks a 4-2 lead.
But don't go anywhere yet...
The Royals weren't about to fold up with their season on the line, and made it a 4-3 game with one minute left in regulation when a shot off the back boards came out front and was tapped in to make it a one goal game again.
The 'Hawks didn't give the Royals anything from there, shutting it down and Andy Fracz putting the series away with an empty netter with 10 seconds left to make it a 5-3 final for the Winterhawks.
Fritsch made 41 saves for the win in a spectacular goaltending performance.
The Winterhawks now advance to the OEHL semi-finals, with an opponent to be determined.
The semi-final round will get underway next weekend, a full schedule will be available once the opponent is finalized.