Three more from Joey Diamond led the Wings to a 7-1 victory over Newmarket at the Dave. In the first period a big hit early from Luke Watson on Bennet MacNeil set the tone for the Wings. MacNeill staggered around on the ice after the hit and did not return. The Hurricanes got two bench minors following the incident and with a two-man advantage Josh McQuade and Nathan Pageau rang shots off the post behind Hurricane goalie Jimmy Sarjeant. They did capitalize eight and a half minutes in as McQuade counted his 28th. Three minutes later Pageau wristed one past Sarjeant. The Hurricanes had a two-man advantage late in the period but could not get much going. 2-0 Hamilton.
In the second just past the halfway mark Diamond got his first as he stepped just inside the blueline and released a laser wrist shot for goal number 25. The Wings had just finished killing a minor penalty, the fourth of seven in a row called by Messrs. Birchall and McKnight. The home team managed to successfully kill them off until finally Paul Clancy connected with a wrist shot inside the last four minutes to get the visitors on the board. It didn't take long for the Red Wings to respond when they took advantage of a thirty second powerplay as Mike Ball stepped into one to make it 4-1 after two.
Three minutes into the final frame Daniel Zweep and Brandon Schwartz got into a spirited tussle. The Hurricane forward, with only ten penalty minutes coming into the game, got the decision but also four more minutes for face-masking and being the aggressor. The official also despatched Jamie Wise with a game misconduct on the same stoppage. Hamilton would then score three straight powerplay goals starting with Ball who took the puck through the entire Newmarket team to make it 5-1 and a minute later Diamond got his second of the game with a one-timer of a perfect cross-ice pass from Pageau. He got his hat trick with three and a half minutes left as he blasted one through the goalie's pads.
It was the tale of two powerplays with the Wings scoring five times on eight opportunities and the Hurricanes getting one on fifteen chances. Rob Behling had a very steady game in net for the Wings giving very little up in the way of rebounds and in the final tally stopped 29 shots. Bruce Crawford did not figure in on the scoring and had limited ice time due to the number of penalties his teammates had to kill off. When he gets to know his linemates better he will be a major factor which will put a scare in the rest of the teams in the Central teams.
I was a disappointed with the lacklustre effort from the Hurricanes on this night but the Wings have so much firepower and played strongly behind the blueline that they were up against it from the start.
In other action Port Hope made their first appearance in Buffalo a winning one 4-3 over the Junior Sabres. Jeremy McCarty had two for the Predators while Matt Bessing scored two powerplay goals for Buffalo. McCarty had the winner twelve minutes into the third.
The Cobourg Cougars carried on their improved play with a 5-2 home win over the Spirit. Zak Woolford had the game winner. Matt Singleton notched his twentieth for the Cougars.
Vaughan had little trouble with Mississauga winning 6-2. Rob DeFulviis had two goals and assist for the Vipers. The Chargers could only muster 19 shots on Wes Carr while Vaughan had 51 shots on the visiting goalies.
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he looked fine, didnt look like he had any hands thought that will come when he gets back on the ice more, remember he had a long time off. big body infront on the PP. hamilton looks awesome these past few games.
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