February 25, 2015
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On Gavin Beaty’s overtime winner in Game 3, the Kincardine Home Hardware Novice Rep. Kinucks took their first round playoff series against the Walkerton Capitals, 3-0.
Kincardine opened the series on the road, Feb. 20, and skated to a 5-3 win.
Evan Graham opened the scoring from Trent Houghton to put the Kinucks up early and Brandon Bishop added an unassisted marker before the end of the frame to push the lead to 2-0.
Walkerton responded in a back-and-forth second to cut the lead in half, 2-1. The teams traded goals twice in the period as Kincardine held a 4-2 lead into the third. Bishop added his second of the game and Beaty scored in the middle frame, both unassisted. Nolan Janes iced the Game 1 victory with an insurance marker from Beaty midway through the third. Goalie Jack Anderson earned the win in the series opener.
In Game 2, the following afternoon, the Kinucks’ momentum was evident as Bishop netted his first of three goals in the first 10 seconds of the opening frame.
After a scoreless second, Bishop potted his final two tallies from Jack Beddington and Houghton in the third. Walkerton scored a late one to disrupt the shutout bid for netminder Rowan Cherrett, but the Kinucks took a commanding two-game series lead with a 3-1 win.
As was the case throughout the series, the Capitals refused to concede to the favourite Kinucks in Game 3, Feb. 23.
In a tight-checking affair, both teams could amass only one goal each through three periods of regulation time. Bishop once again was Kincardine’s marksman in the second. It took the heroics of Beaty to seal the victory and the series win for the Kinucks in overtime. Anderson was the victor between the pipes.
The Kinucks now await the winners of the Mitchell-Listowel and BCH-Saugeen Shores series in the next round. The three series winners will play a mini-round robin style home-and-home, with the top two teams advancing to the WOAA finals.
Mitchell currently leads Listowel, 2-0, and BCH-Saugeen Shores are tied, 1-1, in their best-of-five match-ups.
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