The Thorold Jr. B Blackhawks avoided elimination last night by defeating the Pelham Panthers 4-3 in front of the hometown crowd.
The Hawks had dominated earlier games territorially but found themselves down three games to none heading into last night’s showdown.
Pelham opted to give hot goalie Brandon McCorriston a rest and started Nicholas Kidd who allowed the 4 goals on 35 shots. Noah Fortuna continued in the Thorold goal and got his first playoff victory by blocking 33 of 36 shots.
Pelham opened the scoring in the first period when Noah Caperchione scored unassisted just over two minutes into the match.
But Thorold took a 2-1 lead into the dressing room on goals by Daniel Rocco and Devon Thibodeau.
The fans were treated to another tense third period as Pelham notched the game at 2 heading into the final frame after Matt Ruigrok scored on a power play midway through the second period.
Things became tense for the Hawks early in the third as Pelham regained the lead as Caperchione scored a short handed goal.
But Evan Miller stepped up and scored two for the Hawks, one at the 11 minute mark and another 4 minutes later to give the Hawks a 4-3 lead and the win.
The Hawks will need a more disciplined approach if they are to continue in the playoffs. They managed seven straight penalties in the second period and were lucky to escape with only one goal against.
Overall penalties were fairly even as the Hawks were assessed 10 minutes on 8 infractions and the Panthers 12 minutes on 7 infractions.
The games three stars were Miller, Dylan Latty and Jonah Devereux, all of Thorold.
Game four in the series goes Wednesday night in Pelham at 7:30 p.m.
