For the second time in the Western Jr. C playoffs, the Kincardine Bulldogs erased a 3-0 deficit in a Game 7 to win a playoff series.
Kincardine won Game 7 of the Western Jr. C Final 5-4 in overtime over the Walkerton Hawks. The other Game 7 win came in the semi-finals against Mount Forest.
The Hawks took the early lead in the game, scoring three times in a five-and-a-half minute span. Josh Deyell scored on the power play when he stepped over the blue line and snapped a shot by Kincardine goalie Jacob Hutchings glove side high for the first goal of the game at the 11:33 mark. Minutes later, Reid Simmons took a shot from close range and buried his own rebound. Spencer Elder made it 3-0 at 17:09.
Going into the second period, the Bulldogs came out on the attack and it paid dividends at 5:14 as Derrick Bernath scored to get Kincardine on the scoreboard. Then a flurry for the visiting team as Keegan Angel and Shawn Moore scored three minutes apart to tie the game, Moore's goal coming on the power play, in close, on a feed from Gerrit Satosek.
But late in the second, a tripping call gave Walkerton a power play opportunity. And even though the Walkerton power play struggled through the series, it came alive as Ryan Hamelin scored the go ahead goal with under 90 seconds left in the period, a wrist shot from the high slot. Kincardine would have to play catch up again.
After back and forth chances through the third period, it came down to the final minute. Kincardine won a draw in the Walkerton end, pushing the puck back to the blue line for a quick shot but the stick in Eric Langridge's hand snapped, and Walkerton was able to clear the puck down the ice. With the net empty, the puck rolled just wide of the open cage. Two draws later, Kincardine won the draw again and Eric Langridge snapped a low hard shot that went through a crowd and found the back of the Walkerton net.
Game 7 would go into overtime. The extra frame was dominated by the Bulldogs, out shooting Walkerton 9-2. The series winning goal was scored on Kincardine's ninth shot of the period when Dalton Hnatko sailed down the left wing and snapped a shot from the top of the face-off circle and it went in blocker side high.
The 5-4 overtime win gives Kincardine its first Western Jr. C Championship since 2006-07.
"There's been no quit in these guys," says Kincardine coach Steve Stepaniak. "We were down 3-0 in Game 7 to Mount Forest, battled back and won that. It starts with our captains, Gerrit Satosek, Shawn Moore and those guys. There's just no quit."
As for the next series, the Bulldogs will face a perennial power house in the Alliston Hornets in the Schmalz Cup Quarter-Finals.
"We know it won't be easy but we will stick to our game plan," says Stepaniak. "We know we're not the favourite coming in but we will go in playing our game and see what happens."
For Walkerton, the season comes to a close.
"I'm proud of the team," says head coach Bill Brown. "We had a lot of guys away at school, university, that came back for practice Wednesday night. We battled to the end."
The final series was a reflection of the regular season between the clubs as Kincardine won three of the six meetings and one of the games was a tie, the first meeting back during the opening weekend of the season.
Game 1 of the Schmalz Cup Quarter-Final will be played in Kincardine Thursday night at 8:30pm.
All of the games can be heard on CKNX as Cherrey Buslines OHA Hockey continues through the playoffs.
UPDATED as of March 22, 2016 Schmalz Cup Quarter-Finals Best of 7 Kicnardine Bulldogs vs. Alliston Hornets All games on CKNX or you can listen live at cknx.ca Game 1 - Thursday, March 24 @ 8:30pm in Kincardine Game 2 - Saturday, March 26 @ 6:30pm in Alliston Game 3 - Sunday, March 27 in Kincardine - 4:00pm Game 4 - Wednesday, March 30 @ 8:30pm in Alliston Game 5 - Friday, April 1 @ 8:30pm in Kincardine (if needed) Game 6 - Saturday, April 2 @ 7:30pm in Alliston (if needed) Game 7 - Sunday, April 3 in Kincardine - 4:00 p.m. (if needed)
