Ironmen in tough against Kincardine in first round of playoffs

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

The Wingham Ironmen will play this weekend, continuing their playoff series with the Kincardine Bulldogs, but whether the series will be tied 2-2 or the Ironmen will be on the edge of elimination remains to be seen.

 

The Bulldogs won the first two games of the series last weekend - an 8-1 win in Kincardine on Friday night and a 4-2 victory in Wingham on Saturday - but then the Ironmen fought back on Sunday with a 2-1 over the Bulldogs in Kincardine.

 

As of Wednesday morning, the Bulldogs have a two-game-to-one advantage in the series, but the teams were scheduled to play in Wingham on Wednesday night and a score was unavailable at press time.

 

The fifth game of the series is scheduled to be played tonight -  Friday, March 8 - in Kincardine. Games six and seven, if necessary, will be played on Saturday in Wingham and Sunday in Kincardine.

 

On Friday, the Bulldogs opened the series with a decisive 8-1 victory at their home arena, thanks in no small part to a hat trick scored by Carter Servais.

 

Servais opened the scoring at 4:50 of the first period on the power play, assisted by Jordan Moulton, followed by another Bulldogs’ goal scored by Cooper Schneider at 15:10 of the first, assisted by Dylan Richardson and Jordan Beisel.

 

The Ironmen scored their only goal of the game at 16:59 of the first when Tayt Bramhill found the back of the net, assisted by Coleson Fischer and Nigel Kreager. For the next two periods, it was all Kincardine.

 

Carter Servais scored his second of the game at 5:46 of the second, assisted by Liam Colhoun and Jackson Phillips, followed by a Chad Lawrence goal scored at 9:52, assisted by Blake Hellyer.

 

Trent Houghton scored a shorthanded goal at 1:55 of the third period, assisted by Jordan Beisel, followed by a Jackson Phillips goal scored at 3:18, assisted by Jordan Moulton and Carter Servais.

 

Servais then completed his hat trick at 6:32, scoring his third goal of the game, assisted by Jackson Phillips and Cooper Schneider. 

 

Schneider then scored his second goal of the game, a power play marker, at 13:32 assisted by Jordan Moulton and Blake Hellyer, to close out the game.

 

Garrett Golley stopped 20 of the 27 shots he faced for the Ironmen before being replaced by Kaleb Meyer, who stopped two of the three shots that came his way in the dying minutes of the third period. Carter Garvie stopped 22 of 23 shots for the Bulldogs, earning the win.

 

The Ironmen had players in the penalty box for 20 minutes over six infractions, while the Bulldogs spent 24 minutes in the box spread across eight penalties. That included a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct misconduct penalties handed out to Wingham’s Nigel Kreager and Kincardine’s Wilson Shipp at 6:51 of the third period.

 

On Saturday, the Bulldogs continued their playoff success, beating the Ironmen by a score of 4-2 in Wingham. The Bulldogs started on the right foot thanks to a goal by Jordan Beisel at 14:58 of the first period, assisted by Jordan Moulton and Gavin Downs.

 

Logan Burnham then tied the game for the Ironmen with a power play goal at 13:36 of the second period, assisted by Nate Bloemberg and Micah Kraayenbrink.

 

The teams traded goals again near the end of the second period, beginning with Beisel scoring his second goal of the game for the Bulldogs at 18:14, assisted by Cooper Schneider and Kyle Dolmage, followed by an Ironmen goal scored by Coleson Fischer, assisted by Logan Burnham and Austin Becker.

 

In the third period, the Bulldogs pulled away thanks to a Nolan MacKinnon goal at 6:55 of the third period, assisted by Dylan Richardson and Chad Lawrence, and an empty-net goal scored by Cooper Schneider at 19:25 to put an end to the game.
Carter Garvie won the game in the Kincardine net, stopping 19 of the 21 shots he faced, while Garrett Golley stopped 30 of 33 shots for the loss for the Ironmen.

 

The game was a relatively clean affair, with the Bulldogs only serving six penalty minutes from three infractions, while the Ironmen were assessed six penalties for 12 minutes.

 

It was a different story on Sunday when the teams met again in Kincardine and the Ironmen won by a score of 2-1 and 75 minutes of penalties and five game misconducts were handed out.

 

Jesse Coombs scored the first goal of the game for the Ironmen at 14:10, assisted by Micah Kraayenbrink and Tayt Bramhill. The Bulldogs evened the score at 10:47 of the second period, assisted by Kieran Moore.

 

Coombs, however, scored again for Wingham, finding the back of the net at 15:41 of the third period on the power play and assisted by Micah Kraayenbrink and Nate Bloemberg.

 

Garrett Golley stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced in the Ironmen net for the win, while Ryan Wheeler stopped 27 of 29 shots for the Bulldogs.

 

The Ironmen spent 43 minutes in the penalty box, while the Bulldogs were in there for 32 minutes. Both teams had 13 infractions.

 

In the first, Bryce Martin of the Bulldogs was called for a head contact game misconduct, followed by a misconduct penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct called against Wingham’s Tayt Bramhill, also in the first.

 

In the third, Wingham’s Owen Rahn was given an unsportsmanlike conduct misconduct and Josh Pham, also of the Ironmen, was booted from the game for a cross-checking misconduct. Kieran Moore of the Bulldogs also received a misconduct penalty for removing a helmet.

 

The two teams were due to meet again in Wingham on Wednesday, March 6, followed by games five, six and seven, if necessary, of the series, set for Friday, March 8 in Kincardine, Saturday, March 9 in Wingham and Sunday, March 10 in Kincardine.