CANTON – Finishing strong was the key to victory for the Eastern Ontario Hawks on Saturday morning at the Canton Sports Plex. The majority of their offense coming in the final five minutes of each half as they closed out a 5-2 decision over Spirit Prospects.
The favorable outcome would belong to the Hawks, but much of the first half belonged to Spirit. Kam Fink had them on the scoreboard first with his goal at 8:24, supplying a 1-0 lead that lasted deep into the half. The Hawks go going as the clock dipped below three minutes to play, David Jankowski bringing the game back to even with his mark at 22:19. A power play goal by Chris Smith with just five seconds remaining put the Hawks in front 2-1 headed to the locker rooms.
Eastern Ontario furthered their lead when they returned to the ice, James Zanca upping the advantage to 3-1 with his score at 12:42. Spirit kept it tight as they returned their deficit to one when Kyle Secor put away a goal assisted on by Clayton Thomas at 18:38. But as they did in the first, the Hawks stepped up in the frame’s final minutes to close out their opponent.
A power play goal by Max Cote had the advantage back to two at 20:10 and Charlie Levesque supplied the dagger with his third of the tournament coming at 22:48 of the second half to round out the 5-2 final.
A trio of Hawks came through with multiple point showings in the win, a goal and assist each credited to Smith and Jankowski, while Tom Terranova was credited with a pair of assists. Matt Chan and Jordan White split the winning duties in net for the Hawks, each giving up a goal in the effort.