The Winchester Hawks travelled to the Palais des Sports in Embrun to take on the Panthers on Fri., Sept. 13, in their final preseason game. The newest Hawk, Kyle Green (black) gets a scoring chance on the Panthers’ goalie, William Nguyen during second period action. The Hawks fell behind early but rebounded to take the game 7-6 in overtime. Moore photo

EMBRUN—The Winchester Hawks closed out their preseason with a pair of games this past week as they travelled to Ottawa on Thursday night to take on the Ottawa West Golden Knights and travelled to Embrun on Friday night to take on the Panthers.

Hawks 7 Panthers 6 (OT)

The Winchester Hawks travelled to the Palais des Sports in Embrun to take on the Panthers on Fri., Sept. 13, in their final preseason game. The Hawks were coming off a tough 5-2 loss to the Ottawa West Golden Knights the previous night and had a 2-2 record in the preseason. 

The Panthers opened the scoring when Juno Gregoire pounded one home from Matthew Pietrkiewicz and Tyler Cummins just 1:12 into the first period taking a 1-0 lead. The Panthers made it 2-0 at the five-minute mark as Cummins pounded one home from the point from Jeremy Cyr and Pietrkiewicz on the power play. 

The Panthers took a three-goal lead when Marshall Drevniok slid one to the back of the net from Cyr at 13:15 on the power play. The Panthers took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. The Panthers made it 4-0 just 19 seconds into the second period as Erik Skyba from Cyr and Carter Peck. 

The Hawks finally hit the scoreboard at 12:25 as Nolan Gorton slammed one home from Colby Schroeder to cut the deficit to three. The Hawks got to within two as Kyle Fleming bulged the twine from Kyle Kuehni and Brady Meldrum at 15:10. 

The Panthers retook a three-goal lead when Alexandre Caron swatted one home from Matthieu Brennan and Jacob Lamont just 39 second later. The Hawks closed the gap to two with just one second showing on the clock in the middle frame as Danny Johnson batted one home from Ryan Nielson. 

The Panthers took a 5-3 lead into the second intermission. The Hawks got to within one as Marco Haw sniped one from Johnson and Kuehni at 8:12 and knotted the affair at 11:41 as Kuehni scored an unassisted goal. 

The Panthers retook the lead when Pietrkiewicz lit the lamp at 14:31 from Cyr. The Hawks tied the game again at 16:59 as Kuehni scored his second of the game from Haw and Johnson. Neither team was able to score before the final buzzer sounded so the game headed to a five-minute three-on-three overtime period. 

Just 56 seconds into the overtime, the Hawks ended it as Nielson netted his second of the game from Johnson. The Hawks snuck out the 7-6 victory to improve to 3-2 in their final game of the preseason. The Panthers outshot the Hawks 43-42. 

Picking up the win in the Hawks’ goal were Cole Defazio making 21 saves on 25 shots and Lucas Devries making 16 saves on 18 shots and suffering the loss in the Panthers’ goal were William Nguyen making 14 saves on 14 shots and Joshua Ivanski making 21 saves on 28 shots.

Golden Knights 5 Hawks 2

The Winchester Hawks travelled to the Barbara Ann Scott Arena in Ottawa on Thurs., Sept. 12, to take on the Ottawa West Golden Knights in their fourth exhibition game of the CCHL2 preseason. The Hawks went into the game with a 2-1 record in the preseason and looked to knock off the Golden Knights for a second time. 

The Golden Knights opened the scoring at 5:40 of the first period taking a 1-0 lead. The Golden Knights took a two-goal lead at 15:45 on the power play and three-goal lead at 16:55. The Golden Knights made it 4-0 with just 1:39 remaining in the period. 

The Hawks got one back when Ryan Nielson slid one home with just one second showing on the clock in the opening frame unassisted on the power play. The Golden Knights took a 4-1 lead into the first intermission. 

The Golden Knights made it 5-1 just 30 seconds into the second period. The Hawks battled back and at 8:58, Nathan Lassenba scored his third goal of the preseason from Noah Weatherall and Nicholas Corry. 

The Golden Knights took a 5-2 lead into the third period and led in the shot count 37-16. The teams battled to a scoreless third period as the Golden Knights took the game 5-2 evening the preseason series at a game apiece. 

The Golden Knights outshot the Hawks 49-23. Suffering the loss in the Hawks’ goal were Lucas Devries making 24 saves on 29 shots and Cole Defazio making 20 saves on 20 shots.

Up next

The Winchester Hawks welcome the Char-Lan Rebels to the Joel Steele Community Centre on Fri., Sept. 20, for their home opener at 8:15 p.m., and travel to the Cardelrec Recreation Complex in Stittsville on Sun., Sept. 22 at 1:30 p.m.