The Hawkesbury Hawks survived a determined comeback attempt by the Gloucester Rangers on the way to a 7-6 win.
Hawkesbury made the score 7-4 on a goal by Chris Smith at 11:27 in the third period, and Gloucester got as close as 7-6 when Vincent Guimond scored 19:43 into the third period.
Smith had two goals and one assist to lead the Hawks. Smith scored the first of his two goals at 9:43 into the second period to make the score 4-3 Hawkesbury. Charles Levesque provided the assist. Smith's next tally made the score 7-4 Hawkesbury with 8:33 left in the third period. Hawkesbury had gained a power play chance when Liam Hunter was whistled for holding. Brett Everson picked up the assist.
The Hawks forced Rangers' netminders to work between the pipes, totaling 50 shots and forcing 43 saves. Cedric Hansen made 19 stops and Georgis Rentopoulos made 24. Hawkesbury surpassed its usual scoring output this season. The Hawks have scored at the pace of 3.8 goals per game during the current campaign.
Hawkesbury also got points from Levesque, who also racked up one goal and two assists and Joe Smith, who also registered one goal and one assist. Hawkesbury also had goals scored by Damien Charette, Vincent Crivello, and Reid Murphy, who scored one goal each. In addition, Hawkesbury received assists from Johnathan Kovacevic, Brandon Barillaro, Jacob Drobczyk, and Jonathan Tecce, who contributed one each.
The Rangers bested their season scoring average. This season, Gloucester averages 2.0 goals per contest.
The Rangers were led by Jordan Renaud, who grabbed three goals and one assist. Gloucester additionally got points from Guimond, who also had two goals and one assist. Shane McCrank also scored for Gloucester. Other players who recorded assists for Gloucester were Dan Bates, Jahwara Rennalls, and Nicholas Ngwafusi, who each chipped in one and Salim Mahi-Beaudry and Sander Boroczky, who contributed three each.
Cole Skinner took the win and made nine saves before being replaced by Andrew Tucci who made five saves. Hawkesbury incurred 10 minutes in penalty time with five minors. Gloucester incurred six minutes in penalty time with three minors.
