The Saugeen Shores Winterhawks are headed to the WOAA Sr. "AA" playoffs after defeating the Shelburne Muskies 4-2 on Saturday night.
The Winterhawks had to defeat Shelburne and get some help from the Shallow Lake Crushers to nail down their spot in the top-4 of the North Division.
Shallow Lake needed to defeat Ripley to not only clinch their own playoff spot, but to also give the Winterhawks an opportunity to do the same.
The Winterhawks came out with energy early on, but Shelburne netminder Ed Davey turned away multiple opportunities.
Trent Hawke finally got the Winterhawks on the board with 51 seconds left in the period, with assists going to Blake Underwood and Kyle Roulston.
Blake Sinclair made his Winterhawks debut in goal, blanking the Muskies on 11 shots in the 1st period.
The Muskies would draw even early in the 2nd period, when Steve McSwain put a backhander past Sinclair to make it 1-1.
With Mike Smailes in the box just past the halfway point, Andy Mitchell struck on a shorthanded goal to restore the Winterhawks lead at 2-1, with Nick Quaid assisting.
That's all either team could muster after two periods, but it was during the 2nd intermission that word came down that Shallow Lake had defeated Ripley 6-3, so the Winterhawks needed to hold off Shelburne for another 20 minutes to claim their playoff spot.
The Winterhawks were not interesting in making this one a nail biter, as Mitchell would add his second of the night just 46 seconds into the 3rd to make it a 3-1 Winterhawks lead.
Brent MacDermid put another insurance marker on the board just past the five minute mark of the 3rd, with Mitchell assisting, making it 4-1 Winterhawks.
Shelburne would add one late, but that's all they could get past Sinclair, who picked up his first win in a Winterhawks uniform.
The Winterhawks improve to 10-8-2 on the season, tied with Shallow Lake for 3rd place in the North Division.
The Winterhawks have four games remaining in the regular season, and they will face either the Mapleton-Minto 81's or Durham Thundercats in the first round of the playoffs, depending on how the final standings wind up.
After four in a row on the road, the Winterhawks return home next Friday, January 22nd, when they host Shelburne in a return bout, with an 8:30 p.m. start at The Plex.
with files from winterhawks.net
