It was once again a dominant home victory for the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks.
The Winterhawks left no doubt with an 11-2 victory over the Tillsonburg Thunder in Game 3 of their Ontario Elite Hockey League "A" Final series.
Rob Flick celebrated his 35th birthday in style, scoring four times and adding four assists for an eight-point birthday present for himself.
Flick was all over the scoresheet early, assisting on Miles MacLean's opening goal at 7:03, with Mike Johnstone also assisting.
Flick then scored on the power play 40 seconds later when netminder Clayton Fritsch charged out of his net to steal away what looked like a Tillsonburg breakaway.
Fritsch fired the puck up to Brent MacDermid, who made a nice give & go with Flick for the goal.
To cap off a big first period, Flick sent Justin Marlowe in alone for a breakaway goal with 17-seconds left in the opening frame.
The Winterhawks blew it wide open in the second, with Justin Donnelly returning to the lineup after a lengthy injury hiatus, tipping in Johnstone's point shot to make it 4-0.
Flick then added a pair to complete the hat-trick, including a shorthanded goal to make it 6-0, followed by MacDermid and Marlowe before Tillsonburg got on the board.
MacDermid added a power play goal late in the period and it was 9-1 Winterhawks after two.
The Thunder opened the third with a goal but it was Flick and Hudson Wiles capping off the scoring to give the Winterhawks an 11-2 victory.
Fritsch made 43 saves for the win, coming up big early on when the score was still close.
Flick was a no-doubt choice for the Wismer House Player of the Game with his eight-point outburst.
The Winterhawks now lead the best-of-7 "A"championship series 3-0, and can claim the Hugh McLean Trophy next Saturday night, April 4th, in Tillsonburg at 7:30 p.m.
The game will be live-streamed on the
Thunder YouTube channel.
If necessary, Game 5 would be at The Plex on Easter Sunday, April 5th, at 4:30 p.m.