The Saugeen Shores Winterhawks have pushed the Durham Thundercats to the brink of elimination in their WOAA Sr. "AA" quarterfinal series.
The Winterhawks exploded for four goals in just over four minutes on Friday night in Durham to take Game 5 by a score of 7-3.
After giving up a goal 10 seconds into Game 4, the Winterhawks came out much more determined in Game 5, with Brendon Haefling tipping home a Greg Wardell shot to make it 1-0 Winterhawks at the 3:00 mark of the 1st period.
Durham got it back later in the period when Kyler Nixon snuck in undetected and took a pass from Ryan Zeggil to make it 1-1.
The Winterhawks restored the lead just over two minutes later when Haefling struck again, blasting a shot from the blueline past Durham netminder Gatlin Burt to make it 2-1 for Saugeen Shores.
Winterhawks goalie Blake Sinclair held off the Thundercats for the rest of the period and the 'Hawks took a 2-1 lead to the dressing rooms after the 1st period.
Durham tied the game up early in the 2nd, when Randy Cox picked up a rebound in the slot after Sinclair made a save off a 2-on-1 rush.
A scary moment followed when the puck deflected off a stick and up into the face of defenceman Nick Quaid, who immediately went to the dressing room with a cut over his eye.
Showing what playoff hockey is all about, Quaid returned later in the period to set off a flurry of Winterhawks offence.
In his first shift back after being patched up, Quaid stepped in off the blue line and fired a puck at Burt, which was re-directed by Trent Hawke to give the Winterhawks the lead once again.
Dave Grant got into the act moments later, picked up a rebound beside the net to make it 4-2 Winterhawks.
Then it was Wardell's turn, notching a goal after a Kyle Roulston shot was blocked, but Wardell was able to corral the puck to deposit it past Burt to make it 5-2.
Andy Fracz capped off the scoring frenzy, finding a puck in the slot after Bryan Kazarian and Curtis Johnston cycled down low, scoring to make it 6-2.
All told, the Winterhawks scored four times in 4:11, chasing Burt from the Durham net in favour of backup Scott Kuglin.
Durham got one back early in the 3rd period, when Bill Terpstra stripped Sinclair of the puck behind the net and wrapped it around for an easy tap-in to make it 6-3.
Blake Underwood finished off the scoring on the powerplay at 10:44 when Haefling and Quaid worked the puck around the point, eventually finding Underwood at the side of the net to make it a 7-3 final for the Winterhawks.
The win gives the Winterhawks a 3-2 series lead heading home for Game 6 of the series, with a 7:30 p.m. puck drop scheduled at The Plex.
A win would clinch the series for the Winterhawks and book a date with the Mapleton-Minto 81's in the next round of the playoffs.
with files from winterhawks.net.
