After routing the Shallow Lake Crushers 9-4 on home ice on Tuesday night, the Winterhawks repeated the performance on the road in Shallow Lake on Saturday night.
The Winterhawks put another nine goals on the board, with a 9-5 win over the Crushers to pass Shallow Lake in the standings.
It didn't start out well for the Winterhawks, who spotted Shallow Lake a 2-0 lead before the game was two minutes old.
On the bright side, it gave the Winterhawks plenty of time to stage a comeback, which they started at the 10:18 mark of the 1st, when rookie defenceman Mike Smailes scored his first career senior hockey goal to cut the Shallow Lake lead to 2-1. Brent MacDermid and Blake Underwood assisted on the goal.
The towering Alex Penner would tie things up late in the period, beating Crushers goalie Jason Traynor on a goal assisted by Trevor Smith and Dave Mercer to knot the score at 2-2 after 20 minutes.
The Winterhawks took control in the 2nd period, scoring four times to break the game wide open.
Underwood, Nick Quaid, Andy Fracz and Trent Hawke notched goals, giving the Winterhawks a commanding 6-2 lead after 2, chasing Traynor from the Shallow Lake net in favour of Brandon Vanderschot.
The Crushers would get one back to start the 3rd, but the onslaught continued by the Winterhawks, as Hawke would score twice to complete a hat-trick, giving the Winterhawks an 8-3 lead.
Curtis Johnston rounded out the scoring for the Winterhawks, while Shallow Lake added a couple late goals to make it a 9-5 final for Saugeen Shores.
Josh Sturrock was excellent in goal, picking up his 8th win of the season.
The win improves the Winterhawks record to 8-8-1 on the season, vaulting past the Crushers for the fourth-and-final "AA" playoff spot in the North Division.
With seven games left in the regular season, the Winterhawks now sit one point up on Shallow Lake and one point behind the Ripley Wolves for 3rd place in the division. Ripley fell 4-3 in a shootout in Lucknow on Saturday night.
A pair of crucial road games await the Winterhawks next weekend, as they will be in Durham at 8:30 p.m. on Friday January 8th, followed by a key matchup in Ripley on Saturday January 9th at 7:30 p.m.
with files from winterhawks.net
