Mitchell, Minard net hat-tricks as 'Hawks double Crushers

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Jen Fowler and Christy Kelly of The Investors Group dropped two ceremonial pucks for team captains Jeremiah Henderson of the Shallow Lake Crushers (left) and Greg Thede captain of the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks, November 24. Hub photo

Andy Mitchell and Chris Minard each scored three times as the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks defeated the Shallow Lake Crushers by a 6-3 score on Friday night.

Mitchell got things going early on, as Brent MacDermid found him behind the net, and Mitchell walked out in front and tucked a backhander past Shallow Lake netminder Kyle Sephton.

Mitchell would make it 2-0 at 8:59 when Justin Ainslie knocked down a Shallow Lake pass in the neutral zone, allowing Mitchell to step over the blue line and snap one past Sephton.

Matt Tutin made his second-straight start in goal for the Winterhawks, making 10 saves in the opening frame to keep Shallow Lake off the board.

Minard would get in on the act in the 2nd period, taking a beautiful two-on-one feed from Miles MacLean, tucking it past Sephton to make it a 3-0 lead.

Shallow Lake would get one back late in the period, as Connor Annett would shoot through a crowd, beating Tutin to get the Crushers on the board at 3-1.

Jeremiah Henderson would make it a one-goal game early in the 3rd period, after Tutin couldn’t quite recover after getting caught out of the net on a strange bounce, making it 3-2.

The Winterhawks would pick up a powerplay moments later, and would use five forwards at the same time, but it didn’t quite pay off, as a turnover in the Winterhawks zone ended up on the stick of Corey Schnurr, who deked around a Tutin poke check to tie the game at 3-3.

Minard would correct things 53-seconds later on that same powerplay, taking a centering feed from Bryan Kazarian to put the Winterhawks back out in front, 4-3.

Mitchell would finish off the hat-trick on a solo rush at 12:26, tucking the puck past Sephton, with Minard and Greg Thede assisting to give the Winterhawks a 5-3 lead.

Tutin was called on to make some big saves late, keeping the Crushers at bay to earn his first career win with a 29-save performance.

Minard would finish off his hat-trick and a four-point night with six-seconds remaining, converting into an empty net, with Trevor Smith and MacLean assisting.

Mitchell picked up Wismer House Player of the Game honours for his efforts.

The win moves the Winterhawks to 4-3-1 on the season, as they will head back out on the road tonight [Saturday] to visit the 6-3-0 Shelburne Muskies at 8:00 p.m.

with files from winterhawks.net

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