Hanover Takes Down Walkerton to sweep season series
Hanover travelled to Walkerton to take on the Capitals in their final match-up of the season and put in a solid hard working effort, resulting in a sweep of all four games against Walkerton and a well played 5-2 victory in this one.
Walkerton came out strong early in the first period and took a 1-0 lead at the 9:24 mark of the frame. Hanover responded only 1:14 later, when Dustin Leask fired a shot up high on Walkerton goalie Ben Dunlop, beating him to tie the game. Both Matt Schierz and Chris Hall got assists on the play.
Then Hanover took the lead at the 2:58 mark, when Quintin Graydon fed a beautiful pass into the slot for Colin Spielmacher, who knocked the puck in. Shay Chittick also was awarded an assist on the play.
Then only a minute later Hanover took a 3-1 lead, when the same three were at it again, when captain Shay Chittick passed it to Quintin Graydon, who then dished it to Spielmacher and he made no mistake about it, getting his second of the frame.
In the second period play was actually relatively even, with Walkerton scoring the only goal of the period to close the gap to 3-2 , but there was some strong goaltending by both Dunlop and by Hanover goalie Kody Hammell, who made a tremendous blocker save to keep Hanover up by one goal after two.
In the third Hanover came out fired up and were creating tons of good quality scoring chances. They were rewarded at 11:42, when Colin Spielmacher finished off a nice breakaway to record the hat trick, with Dustin Leask and Chase Blackburn picking up the assists on the play.
Hanover then went up 5-2 at 5:24, when Quintin Graydon popped in a loose puck in front, with Spielmacher and Blackburn picking up the assists.
The game was a very physical affair, especially later in the game, with heavy hits being dished out by both teams. Hanover played very smart and kept their composure throughout, upping their play-off record to 3-1-1 in the first 5 games.
Colin Spielmacher and Quinton Steward both had excellent games and will both wear an "A" in our next game against Durham on Wednesday.
