There’s more Hawks hockey to report on than usual this week as, in pursuit of their third straight Western Junior C Championship title, Walkerton fought back to beat The Kincardine Bulldogs in seven games.
Advancing to once again face The Hanover Barons in the finals, Walkerton won the series opener at home before dropping the next two — all in less than one week.
A dire situation looked even more bleak in game six of the semi-finals as, trailing three games to two, Walkerton fell behind 3-0 after a series of Kincardine goals late in the first.
“I’d love to say there was no doubt,” said Hawks General Manager and Head Coach Steve Barrett, “But I still felt confident, as did the players.”
Bulldogs goaltender Gatlin Burt had held Walkerton to three or less goals in the last four games.
“It was a scary task, and we talked about chipping away at the lead, but then we were down 3-0 with just 10 minutes left. The players said they still thought they could do it and I issued a challenge, that they had to start making something happen,” Barrett said, “We have guys who can elevate their game and rise to the occasion.”
Goals by Tanner Shlakat, Tyler Allen, and Steve Collins in the latter half of the third period helped Walkerton draw even and force overtime.
Allen scored again, assisted by Collins, 21 seconds into overtime to win game six, and, for the first time, put Kincardine on the bubble.
Clayton Fritsch made 25 saves in the win. Burt made 35 saves in the losing effort.
Back in Walkerton for game seven, The Hawks scrambled Kincardine’s net, piling on shots and rebounds, and were rewarded with five first period goals en route to an easy 8-2 win.
A visibly upset Burt was pulled in favour of backup goalie Brian Hainsworth partway through the period.
“Our first two of three goals were rebounds — that’s something we hadn’t been doing,” Barrett said, “(Burt) stood on his head all series except the last couple minutes of game six, and then only lasted the first couple minutes of game seven. As soon as he faltered the wheels fell off.”
The Bulldogs managed a goal in the first, and scored the lone goal in the second, but couldn’t generate enough offence to counter Walkerton’s early rally.
Scoring for Walkerton were Matt Rostek (2), Collins, Shlakat, Adam Alexander, Rob Brennan, Mitch Allen, and Steve Allen.
Fritsch made 35 saves in the win.
On?March 12, Walkerton hosted The Hanover Barons to open the finals, going on to win 4-3 in overtime.
Scoring for the Hawks were Collins, Tyler Allen, Mike Bujold, and Shlakat, who netted the overtime winner.
Hanover goalie Dave Clement made 36 saves in the loss while Fritsch stopped 33 for the win.
The next night in Durham the Barons did away with Walkerton’s four game playoff winning streak by handing The Hawks their first shutout of the 2009-2010 campaign.
Steven Hillier scored the unassisted game winner at 2:29 in the first.
“I’d be lying if I said we weren’t tired,” Barrett said, “It doesn’t matter how young you are, or how good of shape you are in — playing that much hockey in that period of time is going to wear you out. But Hanover has to deal with that too. It’s going to come down to who wants it more.”
Barrett said it wasn’t outstanding effort from The Barons defence that held Walkerton off the scoreboard.
“It was a lack of effort from our whole team,” he said, “When we’re bad we’re collectively bad. When we’re good we excel as a whole team, but there was no jump right from the get go. We got what we deserved.”
Game three took place in Walkerton on Sunday afternoon.
Responding to an early?Hanover goal, Steve Allen tied the game at 6:48, assisted by?Carl Andrews.
In the second period, both teams were assessed misconduct penalties. Hanover’s Corey Spears was assessed a 10-minute major for a check to the head that sidelined him for the second half of the period.
Hawks captain Trevor Smith picked up a game misconduct penalty after a boarding call on a hit to Hillier that left him motionless on the ice and caused a delay in the game as medical assistance came to his aid.
Hillier was awake and responsive as he was taken off the ice on a stretcher and was released from hospital on Sunday night.
A combined total of five Hawks and Barons were in the penalty box when play finally resumed.
Collins picked up two points in the second including an assist on a goal by Kevin Quincey and an unassisted goal of his own.
“Stevie’s got a ton of skill, and when he has the puck he’s a force. He’s a gamer, and he’s a guy we’ll rely on to get us going again in game four,” Barrett said.
Hanover trailed 3-2 heading into the third and managed to tie the game on the power play, with a goal by Jason?Tremble.
Tremble scored again at 2:05 in overtime to secure the win and put his team up 2-1 in the Western Jr. C finals.
Fritsch made 29 saves in the loss. Clement made 19 saves in the win.
Game four took place in Durham last night (Tuesday). Game five is tonight (Wednesday) at 8:30 p.m. back in Walkerton.