The Trenton Kiwanis Bantam Hawks fought their way to the Lakeshore League final series with a tough four game set against the Belleville Jr Bulls, coming out with three wins in a series in which all four games were decided by one goal and two of them went to overtime.

In the opening tilt last Thursday the Hawks came away with a dramatic 2-1 OT victory at home. Mitch Burkitt notched the overtime winner with the other Trenton score coming from Brandon O'Quinn. Joey Scott was solid in between the pipes for the Hawks.

The second game of the series saw the Hawks escape from the Memorial arena in Belleville with anther dramatic one goal victory with Tyler Mindell blasting the game winner (his second of the evening) from the point to break a 2-2 tie with twelve seconds left in regulation. Brad Carruthers picked up the other score for the Hawks with assists coming from Elliot Fledderus, Robert Little, Ryan McAlpine and Mindell. Scott picked up the win for Quinte West in net.

The third tilt was back in Trenton on Sunday and the Hawks came out on the wrong side of a hard fought 3-2 loss. The Bulls got on the board first late in the opening frame only to see Quinte West roar back to tie it less than 30 seconds later on another slapshot by Mindell. Little and O'Quinn assisted on the play. The Bulls moved ahead 2-1 early in the second and the Hawks again fought back to tie it two minutes later on a goal mouth scramble by McAlpine with Jake Maynard and Matt Lecavalier assisting. Belleville scored again midway through the third and despite tremendous pressure late in the game the Hawks could not muster up another marker taking the loss at home.

With the series standing at 2-1 for Quinte West, the fourth game moved to the Dick Ellis in Belleville and it did not disappoint. Again Belleville opening the scoring early in the second period with a power play scramble that eluded Scott. Again the Hawks fought back to tie it midway through the frame when Jake Murray banged home the rebound of an O'Quinn shot. McAlpine also picked up an assist on the play. Again the Bulls moved ahead 2-1 with another power play goal late in the second only to see the Hawks again fight back to tie it 2-2 with 5 minutes left in the third off a hard snapshot from the point by Little with McAlpine and Maynard assisting. With the game moving into overtime, goalkeep Scott made two tremendous saves to stave off a furious Belleville push. the Hawks won in dramatic fashion with Burkitt intercepting a pass at center ice and dancing around the lone Belleville defender, he made a quick deke on the the goaltender and slid a backhand in for the game winning score, his second OT winner of the series.

The win moves the Trenton Kiwanis Bantam Hawks into the Lakeshore League final series for the second year in a row where they will meet up with the winner of the Cobourg/Uxbridge series. return to main page