The Saugeen Shores Winterhawks left it all on the ice as they tried to extend their season on Saturday night in Drayton.
For the second-straight game, the Winterhawks fell in overtime to the Mapleton-Minto 81's, losing Game 5 by a score of 5-4.
Dave Grant, Andy Fracz, Brett Brophy and Jay Thomson returned to the lineup for the game, while Nick Quaid, Kyle Roulston and Justin Ainslie joined captain Greg Thede and goaltender Blake Sinclair on the sidelines.
Scott Tregunna opened the scoring just shy of five minutes into the game, redirected a point shot past Josh Sturrock to make it 1-0 Mapleton-Minto.
Tregunna struck again just over a minute later when he sprung loose on a breakaway to make it 2-0.
The Winterhawks would get one back late in the period on the powerplay when Bryan Kazarian found Grant alone in front of the net, and he beat Jason Hamilton to cut the 81's lead to 2-1.
Mapleton-Minto would extend the lead to two again in the 2nd period when the Winterhawks failed to clear the zone on repeated occasions, with the puck eventually finding Brent Cochrane, who beat Sturrock to make it 3-1.
Sturrock had been battling a recurring groin injury dating back to January, but returned to the Winterhawks net for Game 4 after Sinclair went down to injury.
The groin flared up again on Sturrock and he was forced to leave the game midway through the period, giving way to Kevin McGivern.
The Winterhawks were able to get back to within one late in the 2nd period, when Kazarian lead a shorthanded rush up the ice, slapping the puck to the front of the net, where it banked in off Curtis Johnston for the shorthanded marker.
That set the stage for a dramatic 3rd period, as the Winterhawks battled for survival.
The 'Hawks survived two penalties in the 3rd, while McGivern made numerous saves to keep his team within one.
It looked like the season was over at 13:30 of the 3rd, when Tregunna completed the hat-trick by batting the puck out of mid-air, past McGivern to make it 4-2 for Mapleton-Minto.
Cue the comeback.
With McGivern on the bench for an extra attacker, the Winterhawks won a draw in the Mapleton-Minto zone, and Brent MacDermid found Andy Mitchell at the side of the net, as he beat Hamilton to get the Winterhawks to within one with just under two minutes to play.
With the goalie pulled yet again, Trent Hawke evened the score with 59-seconds left when he took a pass from Jacob Brown and put the puck in the top corner past Hamilton to make it a 4-4 tie.
The overtime period featured end-to-end action, with Hamilton and McGivern forced to make game-saving stops.
The season came to an end at 5:36 of overtime when Kyle Spurr lead a two-on-one rush up the ice and took a shot that beat McGivern, but clanked off the crossbar and right onto the stick of Duston Hebebrand, who had an open net waiting for him.
That gave Mapleton-Minto a 5-4 win and a 4-1 series win over the Winterhawks, as they now move on to the league finals against the Clinton Radars.
The Winterhawks organization would like to thank our tremendous fans and sponsors for yet another great season of Winterhawks hockey.
A special thank-you goes out to the players and coaches, as well as trainers and equipment staff who gave up so much of their time for the love of the game. Your sacrifices do not go unnoticed.
The Winterhawks will be hosting the annual awards banquet and fan appreciation night at a later date, and we will see you back at the rink for the 10th season of Winterhawks hockey next fall.
with files from winterhawks.net.
