The Smiths Falls Bears came close to giving away a three-goal lead to the Hawkesbury Hawks, but did just enough to escape with a 4-2 victory.
Smiths Falls led by three goals at one point and ended with the victory. The largest advantage in the game came when the Bears' Michael McKenney scored at 5:50 in the third period to put Smiths Falls up 3-0.
The Bears pulled out the victory even though they were hit with 16 penalty minutes.
Smiths Falls forced Hawkesbury goalie CJ Sharp to work between the pipes, taking 34 shots.
The Bears were helped by Neil Doef, who tallied one goal. Doef scored 2:45 into the second period to make the score 2-0 Smiths Falls. Kevin Groulx provided the assist. Smiths Falls also got points from Groulx, who also had one goal and one assist to lead the team in points. Brett Garvey also scored for Smiths Falls. In addition, Smiths Falls received assists from Jared Henry, Olivier Chabot, Nicolas Coates, Karson McCartney, and Cole Busschaert, who contributed one each.
The Hawks were helped by Marc-Antoine Bourbonnais, who grabbed one goal. Bourbonnais scored 8:34 into the third period to make the score 3-1 Smiths Falls. Hawkesbury also got a goal from Jonathan Cyr as well. More assists for Hawkesbury came via Rory Gagnon and Phil Johansson, who each chipped in one.
Michael Pinios rejected 23 shots on goal for Smiths Falls. The Bears registered one goal on five power play opportunities. Sharp recorded 30 saves for Hawkesbury. The Hawks incurred 12 minutes in penalty time with six minors.
