The Walkerton Hawks have fallen behind 1-0 to The Kincardine Bulldogs in their best of seven Western Jr C semifinal series. incardine defeated Walkerton 7-5 in the series opener on Feb. 26.
Kincardine opened the scoring in the first, but Walkerton had claimed a 2-1 lead before the end of the opening frame.
Scoring for Walkerton were Mitch Allen and Mike Bujold, who found the back of the Kincardine net on a power play.
The Bulldogs struck again to open the second, but within five minutes Walkerton had scored twice more, thanks to two by Steve Collins, one coming on the power play.
Unphased by The Hawks’ 4-2 lead, The Bulldogs answered back with two of their own, including the first of two shorthanded goals, to even the score in the second.
For the third consecutive period, Kincardine scored first, with the second goal of the night from Devin Kemp. Kemp scored another later in the third, unassisted and shorthanded, to complete a hat trick and cap off a four-point game.
Paul Stewart scored the gamewinner for Kincardine at 7:41 with a man advantage.
“We didn’t get an effort right from the drop of the puck to the final buzzer,” said Hawks General Manager and head coach Steve Barrett, “We were terrible 5-on-5, a man short and on the power play. We weren’t ready to play.”
Adam Alexander tallied Walkerton’s lone goal in the period, assisted by Trevor Smith and Tanner Shlakat. Smith picked up three points in the game, earning an assist in each period of play.
Smith said that to shut down Kemp and the rest of The Bulldogs in their next meeting Walkerton will have to get tougher in its own end.
“Everybody needs to be better defensively,” Smith said, “From the goaltender right on ahead.”
Clayton Fritsch took the loss making 31 saves while is counterpart on The Bulldogs, Gatlin Burt, picked up the win with 24 saves.
Prior to Friday’s game, The Hawks had not played since Feb. 13. Barrett said that was a factor in the loss, but no excuse.
“That comes into play, for sure it does.?Even clinching the way we did, we didn’t a play a meaningful game for a long time. We weren’t firing on all cylinders. But that’s not an excuse; they’ve got to come ready to play and they just didn’t,” he said, “All credit to Kincardine. They’re young, they’re working hard, and they’re excited to be playing us. They deserved it.”
In six meetings during the regular season, Walkerton’s record against Kincardine was five wins and one overtime loss.
“We’ve got to get back to what’s made us successful all season.?That’s coming in and working hard,” Barrett said, “We put a few simple systems in place and expect them to be executed to perfect potential. That’s what we have to do to get back in the series.”
Game two of the series is tonight (Wednesday, March 3) at 7:30 p.m. in Kincardine. ame three will be back in Walkerton on Friday, March 5 at 8:30 p.m.