Tamara Govier, Division Director of the Investors Group (left) and Tiffany Love of the Women’s House Serving Bruce and Grey dropped the ceremonial puck before the game December 2.
It was far from a masterpiece, but the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks ran their winning streak to double digits on Friday night.
The Winterhawks doubled-up the visiting Huron East Centenaires 6-3 for their tenth straight win.
The Winterhawks appeared to take the game by the throat early on, jumping out to a 4-0 lead on a short-staffed Centenaires team.
Blake Underwood opened the scoring 1:42 into the game, picking up a rebound off an Alex Penner shot, beating Huron East netminder Jesse Raymond to make it 1-0.
Jay Thomson expanded the lead to 2-0 at 6:23 when he found a rebound at the side of the net after Raymond stopped a Trevor Smith drive, Brent MacDermid also assisted on the goal.
Penner would get one of his own on the powerplay at 14:02, deflecting a Nick Quaid point shot past Raymond to make it 3-0, with Underwood picking up an additional assist.
Jeff Flagler was tested early and often as the teams exchanged chances, but he stood his ground to keep Huron East off the scoreboard.
James McHaig would round out the scoring in the dying seconds of the 1st period, as Greg Thede took a shot and the rebound went right on the stick of McHaig, who buried it past Raymond with four seconds left in the period, with Penner also picking up an assist.
A sloppy start for both teams in the 2nd period saw the scoreboard light up.
Reubin Smith got in alone on Flagler before the ice was dry, and a nice poke check by Flagler went for naught, as the puck went right on the stick of Mitch Smith, who had an open net to deposit the puck, cutting the Winterhawks lead to 4-1.
Michael Johnstone answered right back 1:12 later, when he stripped the puck off a Huron East defender and went top shelf of Raymond to restore the four-goal lead, making it 5-1 Winterhawks.
Less than a minute later, a sloppy clearing attempt by the Winterhawks eventually ended up on the stick of Andrew van Vliet, who put Huron East back within three, making it 5-2.
Just over five minutes later, Bryan Kazarian finished off a two-on-one with Alex Kuntz, going roof on Raymond to make it a 6-2 lead for the Winterhawks.
Odd-man rushes again came back to bite the Winterhawks, as Huron East cut the lead to 6-3 at 17:54 when Reubin Smith finished off a rush with a tap-in goal.
The teams exchanged pleasantries in the 3rd period, but not any goals, as Flagler and the Winterhawks penalty killing units turned aside a pair of Huron East powerplays, including an extended 5-on-3 advantage.
Flagler made 38 saves for the win in goal, running his season record to 6-0-0.
Penner was named Wismer House player of the game, recording a goal and two assists.
Despite winning their 10th game in a row, Head Coach Jim Grieve was less than thrilled with the way his team performed.
"We tried to preach to the guys that they have to be defensively responsible and I think we got away from that during the second half of that game," said Grieve. "The result is we got outshot [41-37] by a team with 12 players."
The 10-1-0 Winterhawks will take their 1st place record on the road next Friday night, December 9, when they visit the struggling 2-8-0 Elora Rocks.
Grieve thinks his team won't get caught looking at the standings.
"I'm not too worried about it, I think after tonight, the guys will be wanting to put their best foot forward [in Elora]," said Grieve.
A full boxscore can be viewed on Pointstreak.
with files from winterhawks.net.
Winterhawks goalie Jeff Flagler didn't let a puck past him during the first period.
Winterhawks forward Bryan Kazarian helped the defence keep the puck away from the Centenaries.
The ‘Hawks celebrate around James McHaig after he scored their forth goal with seconds left in the first period.
Defenceman Brendon Haefling took a shot at net during the December 2 game against Huron East.
