The Walkerton Hawks drew ever closer to clinching first place in the Western Junior C after a 3-1 victory over the Wingham Ironmen last Friday night.
The first period was scoreless, but not without action, as a scrum ensued after Wingham defenceman Chase Chapman committed a crosscheck to the throat of Walkerton’s Dean Nixon. Chapman was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct, while Wingham’s Blair McConnell and Walkerton’s Trevor Smith picked up roughing penalties on the play.
The Hawks opened the scoring in the second period when Greg Collins found the back of the net with help from Justin Wakewich and Tyler Allen.
Hawks GM and head coach Steve Barrett said that while the line responsible for scoring the opening goal contains the team’s scoring leader (Allen), that doesn’t mean it gets special treatment as “the first line”.
“We refer to our top two lines as ‘1’ and ‘1A’,” Barrett said, “We feel like we have two top lines. Until one clearly steals the show we’ll keep the titles the way they are.”
Graham Ashcroft answered back for the Ironmen several minutes later, but Clayton Fritsch shut down Wingham’s offence for the rest of the game, making 25 saves in the win.
Tanner Shaklat fired in the game winner on the power play at 15:23 in the second, assisted by Kevin Quincey and Greg Wardell.
Shaklat struck again with an unassisted goal in the third, the lone marker of the final period.
A fight broke out in the final minute of the third period between Walkerton’s James McHaig and Wingham’s Wade Stephenson, with both being assessed gross misconduct penalties.
“James reacted to a hit Stephenson had thrown, and the bell was answered,” Barrett said, “It was a major tussle between two big boys.”
Additional one-game suspensions were given out as both participants removed their helmets.
“We haven’t had many fights recently,” Barrett said, “They’re trying to curb fighting with harsher penalties because of the negative publicity it’s brought the last couple years. If they have to miss games, fighting doesn’t make a lot of sense for many guys.”
Walkerton has seven games left in the regular season and, with an eight point lead over second-place Hanover, just one more win is needed to lock up first place.
“One win would probably do it, but that’s not how we’ll operate. We look to win each and every night,” Barrett said, “Once we do clinch we may not play guys with nagging injuries in order to let them heal up for the remaining games. We do have guys with some nagging injuries to clear up before playoffs. We’re going to make sure we come out injury- and suspension-free with nothing that will carry over into the playoffs.”
Barrett called the advantage given to the team that ends the season in first “a big bonus”.
“It guarantees us home ice through our league and gives us a first round bye,” Barrett explained, “We’d have an extra week or 10 days off, and get to go scout some games if need be. It’s a big bonus. Whenever you have a seven-game series you definitely want game seven to take place in your own barn.”
This weekend, besides heading out for a road game versus Kincardine on Friday night, the Hawks will be hosting a Yuk Yuks comedy event on Saturday at the community centre, starting at 9 p.m.
“It’s a fundraiser and a night of fun,” Barrett said, “I’ve been there the last few years and it’s lots of laughs and good times.”
Tickets for the age of majority event are on sale at Wright’s Foodland and the community centre.