In a series between two talented hockey clubs, it's the officials who are stealing the spotlight.

The Winterhawks travelled to Palmerston on Friday night for Game 3 and fell 6-2 to the Mapleton-Minto 81's by score of 6-2.

Penalties were called early and often as the two teams were rarely able to get any sort of flow going.

The 81's got on the board early when Zach Graham picked up a rebound in front of Blake Sinclair and shovelled it home to make it 1-0 just shy of the four-minute mark.

Mike Smailes answered back just over two minutes later, firing a point shot through a maze of players to beat Jason Hamilton to tie the game at 1-1.

The Winterhawks shook up the lines as Bryan Kazarian found himself centering Andy Mitchell and Jay Thomson and the new line struck at the 13-minute mark when Kazarian fed a pass over to the red-hot Mitchell, who converted the one-timer to make it 2-1 Winterhawks.

A late powerplay didn't work out so well for the Winterhawks, who gave up an odd-man rush, with Keegan Calder converting to tie the game at 2-2.

Things got physical in the final moments of the period, with three 81's players hitting Trent Hawke at the same time. The referees called five 10-minute misconducts after the ensuing scrum.

The referee show kicked into high gear in the 2nd period as the Winterhawks failed to convert on two powerplays to start the period.

Then, it was the 81's turn to play with the extra man as more penalties were called.

The Winterhawks were able to kill off the penalty until they were whistled for another one, giving the 81's a 5-on-3 for 1:07.

The 81's Jake Pleon converted, giving Mapleton-Minto a 3-2 lead just before the first penalty ended.

Once play returned to 5-on-5, it looked as if the Winterhawks were headed to another powerplay as Brent MacDermid had his stick slashed out of his hands, but MacDermid was called for roughing in the ensuing scrum and the powerplay was negated.

Following another set of offsetting minor penalties, it once again looked like the Winterhawks would head to the powerplay when Brendon Haefling was knocked down in front of the Winterhawks net. Inexplicably, the 81's ended up on the powerplay when the Winterhawks were called for two minor penalties in the rather mild scrum that followed the play.

Graham would score for the 81's off the draw, giving Mapleton-Minto a 4-2 lead.

Sinclair would come up huge for the Winterhawks moments later on a cross-crease save, but was slow to get up and did not return for the 3rd period. He was replaced in goal by Kevin McGivern.

Dave Grant and Andy Fracz also departed the game after the 2nd period with injuries.

The 81's would score again on the powerplay at 7:46, then would cap off the scoring at 12:39 to make it a 6-2 final score.

Mapleton-Minto now leads the best-of-seven series 2-1, with Game 4 set to go tonight [Saturday] at 7:30 p.m. at The Plex in Port Elgin.

with files from winterhawks.net.