Jacob Brown scored with five minutes left to propel the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks to the next round of the WOAA Sr. "AA" playoffs.
Brown broke a 2-2 tie when he stepped in off the point to beat Durham Thundercats netminder Gatlin Burt, sending the home crowd into a frenzy and the Winterhawks past the Thundercats in six games.
It was a tight checking affair early on as Durham looked to keep their season alive, but they were turned away by Blake Sinclair repeatedly, a sign of things to come on this night.
Trent Hawke opened the scoring at 16:27 of the 1st, when he took a feed in the slot from Blake Underwood to beat Burt for a powerplay marker.
The Winterhawks held the 1-0 lead through the end of the period, but Durham pushed for the equalizer on the powerplay early in the 2nd, but couldn't beat Sinclair.
The powerplay was kind to the Winterhawks yet again as Underwood extended the lead to 2-0 at 14:06 when he danced around the Durham defence and beat Burt with a wrist shot.
Durham cut the lead in half four minutes later on a bizarre goal, as Durham dumped the puck into the Winterhawks zone. Sinclair left the crease in anticipation of the puck ringing around the boards on its way behind the net. However, the puck caught the edge of the Zamboni door and popped out in front of the Winterhawks net, where Kody Vaisanen deposited the puck into the empty net.
The score held through the end of the period, with the intermission featuring the annual Miller Insurance $50,000 Shootout, as Port Elgin's Jim Reiger was unable to thread the needle and hit the opening in the board. He took home a consolation prize when he was able to hit the empty net with the board removed.
Once the hockey resumed in the 3rd period, Durham came out pressing with their season on the line, but Sinclair was equal to the task.
Durham pulled even at 13:11 on a defensive breakdown when a clearing attempt was knocked down by Jason Tremble, who was alone in the slot, as he blasted a slapshot past Sinclair to knot the game at 2-2.
Brown's heroic winning goal came less than two minutes later, as the Winterhawks held off Durham in the final moments to secure a 3-2 win.
Sinclair made 32 saves for the win and was named the Wismer House Player of the Game for his efforts.
The win gives the Winterhawks a 4-2 series win over Durham, and they will now move on to the league semi-finals against the Mapleton-Minto 81's. The series will begin next weekend, with a full schedule to be released as soon as it is finalized.
with files from winterhawks.net
