Three periods of regulation and an overtime session were not enough to settle matters as the Milton Icehawks defeated the Wellington Dukes in a shootout 4-3 (2-1 SO).
The two teams needed eight turns to complete the shootout. Wellington got a shootout goal from Erick Delaurentis. Milton’s other shootout goal was scored by Shane Bennett.
The Icehawks came back from a two-goal deficit to capture the victory. Milton was down 3-1 after a goal by the Dukes’ Maurizio Colella at 13:13 in the second period. The Icehawks knotted things up at 3-3 on a goal by Josh Pace at 6:16 in the third period.
Referees had their hands full with a major incident at 4:50 into the second period. Four fighting penalties were dished out along with two game misconducts.
Milton put up an impenetrable defensive front on the penalty kill, and did not allow Wellington to score on any of its three power plays. The Icehawks’ offense rang up 40 shots on the Dukes’ net.
Milton also had goals scored by Mitch Graham and Bennett, who scored one goal each. In addition, Milton received assists from Tyler Burns, Alex Riche, Jake Baird, Jeremy Gottzmann, Ryan Burns, and Joseph Benvenuto, who contributed one a piece.
Wellington kept Milton’s goalie busy throughout the game, and Ben Blacker made 30 saves on 33 shots.
Wellington also got points from Kyle Paat, who also finished with one goal and one assist. Wellington also got a goal from Mike Soucier as well. Other players who recorded assists for Wellington were Abbot Girduckis, who had two and Chad Thibodeau and Joe McKeown, who each chipped in one.
The Icehawks totaled 13 minutes in penalty time with four minors and one major and went 1-for-7 on the power play. For Milton, Graham was ejected from the game. The Dukes’ Tyson Teichmann stopped 36 shots out of the 39 that he faced. Wellington ended with 17 minutes in penalty time with six minors and one major. The Dukes ran into serious disciplinary problems during the contest, and Thibodeau was ejected from the game.