Durham, Wingham split first two play-off games.
Durham battled back from 3-0 deficit in Wingham to win 4-3, but could duplicate effort on home ice on Sunday, losing 5-1.
In Wingham on Saturday morning, the Huskies slept through two periods before waking up and finding themselves down three goals. Winghams Trent Michie was the lone goal scorer for them and recorded the natural hat-trick in the second period. With six and a half minutes remaining in the game, Brady Becker finally put Durham on the board with a strong effort coming in from the left side. Jeffrey Aljoe drew the lone assist to put the Huskies within two. Seventy-eight seconds later, the Huskies were awarded their second penalty shot of the game, this time for a Wingham player putting his hand on the puck in the crease. Nic Whiteside made no mistake and closed the gap to a goal. It took only ten seconds after the penalty shot for Durham to tie things up. Becker picked up a loose puck right off the face-off, beat two defenders and then slid in his second of the game. Landon Halloway assisted on the play. With things now tied and momentum definalty in Durham's favor, Bryden Ridgeway put the final touches on the come back when he picked up a rebound in front of the net and deposited it in the Wingham net. Assisted by Aljoe it would prove to be the winner as Durham would hang on, with the thanks of Lucas Ball and win game one.
Back on home ice on Sunday, Wingham would again build a three nothing lead before Durham could respond. Becker, playing arguably his best hockey this year, made it three to one going into the third. Assisted by Aljoe and Austin Hutcheson. The heroics of Saturday could not be duplicated though as Wingham would add two more in the third and win by a five to one score.
Paw Prints: Noah Johnson returned for Sundays game after missing Saturdays due to an undisclosed upper body injury. Colton Stoddart missed Sundays game, as did the coach, as a pre-arranged trip to Toronto conflicted with Sundays game. It should be all hands on deck for Tuesdays game three in Wingham (6:30pm) and game four back in Durham on Wednesday night (7pm).
Wingham outshot Durham 45 to 15 in game one and 38 to 13 in game two. If Durham wants to win this series, they will need to play much better defensively as well as getting more shots on the Wingham tenders.
Its not too often you get to see one penalty shot in a game, but we were fortunate enough to get two chances in Wingham on Saturday. For statistical reasons I can say were are batting 500.
