Rookies help Winterhawks to home opener win

puck drop 560

Flanked by Huron East Centenaires Captain Brendon Merritt, and Winterhawks Captain Greg Thede, owner of Southampton’s Outlaw Brew Co., Deborah Leon, dropped the ceremonial puck to kick-off their home opener October 13 at The Plex. Hub photo

For the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks, the kids are alright.

Rookies Lauchlin Elder, Josh Hopkin and Connor Patton all hit the scoresheet as the Winterhawks put up a 4-1 win over the visiting Huron East Centenaires.

Before the puck dropped, the Winterhawks held their opening ceremony for the home opener, sponsored by Outlaw Brew Co.

It was during that ceremony, the Winterhawks dedicated the season to teammate Michael Johnstone, who was diagnosed with cancer during the offseason.

Johnstone’s #18 jersey hung behind the Winterhawks bench during the game and will be with the team both home and away, all season long.

The Winterhawks brought the strong crowd to its feet early on, as Elder found a loose puck in the slot at the 1:40 mark, snapping his first career Winterhawk goal past Huron East goaltender Jesse Raymond.

Hopkin got into the mix at 9:40, taking a wrist shot from the point that hit a skate of a defender and deflected past Raymond, with Patton and Chris Minard picking up assists, the first in a Winterhawk uniform for all three.

Huron East would get one back when Chett Binning snuck a backhander past Winterhawks goaltender Jeff Flagler to cut the lead to 2-1.

The Winterhawks managed to kill off three penalties before picking up a powerplay of their own, and they made it count when they got one.

The powerplay unit whipped the puck around, with Blake Underwood feeding Brent MacDermid, who made a cross-ice pass to Trevor Smith, blasting a one-timer past Raymond to make it a 3-1 game at 7:04 of the 2nd period.

The Winterhawks penalty killers were busy on this night, killing off four more penalties before the next Huron East infraction.

The final dagger would come at 5:43 of the 3rd when MacDermid got in alone on Raymond and deked out the Huron East goaltender to make it 4-1, with assists to Andy Mitchell and Andy Fracz.

Just for good measure, the Winterhawks would kill off one more penalty late in the game to make it a perfect 8-for-8 night for the special teams.

Flagler made 33 saves for the win, as the Winterhawks improved to 1-1-0 on the season, while Hopkin was named the Wismer House Player of the Game.

The Winterhawks will be back in action on Friday October 20th, when they travel to Shallow Lake to take on the Crushers at 8:30 p.m.

with files from winterhawks.net

Johnstone jersey

The jersey of former Winterhawk Michael Johnstone will hang all season. Johnstone played forward during the 2016-2017 season and is currently battling cancer. Hub photo