Blake Underwood recorded a hat-trick as the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks doubled-up the Lucknow Lancers 4-2 on Saturday night.
Underwood struck just three minutes into the contest, beating Lucknow goalie Ben Dorscht to make it 1-0 Winterhawks, with Josh Jackson and Nick Quaid assisting.
Lucknow would tie it up on a shorthanded goal late in the period to make it a 1-1 tie after 1.
Underwood would add his second of the night at about the halfway point of the 2nd period, converting on a powerplay goal from Brett Brophy and Trevor Smith.
Andy Fracz would extend the Winterhawks lead to 3-1 moments later with Quaid and Bryan Kazarian adding assists.
The Lancers would draw to within one midway through the 3rd period when Simpson scored his second of the night on the powerplay, beating Blake Sinclair to cut the Winterhawks lead to 3-2.
Lucknow pushed hard for the equalizer, but were consistently turned aside by Sinclair.
Underwood capped off his big night with the hat-trick marker with seven minutes to go in the 3rd, with Brophy and Trent Hawke picking up the helpers.
The win is the Winterhawks fourth straight, improving their record to 12-8-2 on the season, good enough for sole possession of 3rd place in the North Division heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
The Winterhawks have two games left and are two points up on the Shallow Lake Crushers for 3rd place, who have just one game remaining.
The Shelburne Muskies visit The Plex on Friday night at 8:30 p.m., followed by a visit from the Mapleton-Minto 81's on Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop at The Plex. Shallow Lake hosts Mapleton-Minto on Friday night.
A Winterhawks win or overtime loss in either game or a Shallow Lake loss would clinch 3rd place for the Winterhawks, and a date with the Durham Thundercats in the opening round of the playoffs.
with files from winterhawks.net.
