Milton Winterhawks Atom Select

22-23 Jan 2010
The Winterhawks were booted out of the tournament by a narrow .25 points. Heartbreaking, but they can feel proud of their performance against the Brantford 99ers with a 3-2 win.
Game 1 on Friday was against the Guelph Storm. Milton didn’t have it together and couldn’t combat the Storm’s drive to win. The Hawks were shut out by the Guelph defence and netminders; however, outstanding play by Corp and sharp D work by Di Biasio and Wulfers Joyce kept the score against at 2.
The second game of the tourney was later in the same day against the Dofasco Steelhawks. The game was all give and go between two evenly matched teams. Some time spent in the bin by both sides and a Milton injury kept the fans on the edge of their seats. Final score was 5-5. MacGregor got the ball rolling for Milton with assistance from blueliners Dickin and McDonald. It was the first point of a hat trick and two assists for #2. Evans and Dutton tallied a point each and further play-making came from Galarneau and Evans.
Day 2 had the Hawks facing the Brantford 99ers and our boys came out victorious. Although Brantford registered the first point Milton came back strong in the second period with two back to back goals. The first on a high shot by Evans with help from Harrison and Mulraney. The next goal was moments later when MacGregor received a great pass on a play between McDonald and Harrison. Milton’s final goal came early in the third on a Michailoff-Cunha-MacGregor rush with MacGregor finding the opening. A final goal by the 99ers put the score at 3-2.

17 Jan 2010
Once again the Winterhawks squared off against the Brampton Bombers and the game began with speed and intensity from both sides. Good offensive work and MacGregor’s 4 points led the team to an 8-1 win.
Unlike previous outings, Milton began stronger right off the bat. Halfway through the period Dickin stood firm at the blue line and fired the puck over to Evans who drove it closer to the net. Mulraney was ready to receive and with a perfect opening scored the Hawks’ first point.
It wasn’t until 8 minutes later, and well into the second that the Hawks were able to beat the Bomber’s goalie a second time. McDonald kept the play in the Brampton zone by sending the puck into the corner. Takeuchi picked it up and tipped it to MacGregor who sent it in high for his first goal of the game. Next shift up and Di Biasio dove into the fray, got the puck to the hash marks and found Galarneau open. He tried to get through the defence but the Brampton boys stood their ground and so passed it over to Evans who had a clear shot. The Bombers snuck one past Hawks’ defence and netminder Schaap two minutes later. Despite a man in the penalty box, Takeuchi and MacGregor saw a chance for a rush and took it. MacGregor fired it over the netminders blocker and Milton was up 4-1.
Third period play began with Harrison and MacGregor paired up and flying down the ice. Harrison took the puck in deep and then made a beautiful pass over to MacGregor who tallied his third of the game. Another goal followed when Michailoff, Cunha and MacGregor went on the attack. Michailoff deked around a couple of Bombers and then handed it off to Cunha who took a shot but it was deflected. MacGregor picked it up and Milton was on the board again. The Dutton-Takeuchi-MacGregor line played their game and Dutton shot it through the Bomber keeper’s legs. With less than one minute left Di Biasio picked up a loose puck and sent it in deep where Evans pounced on it. He got it through the mêlée to Galarneau who registered the Hawks’ 8th goal.
Great hustling from Cunha and Takeuchi during the entire match. Schaap made sharp saves and Milton outshot Brampton 34 to 12.

10 Jan 2010
In a game fraught with penalties on both sides the Hawks came out victorious with a resounding 7 to 1 win over the Brampton Sharpshooters.
Early in the game Di Biasio sent a sharp pass to Evans who wove around the Brampton D. He sent the puck over to line mate Galarneau who racked up Milton’s first. In the closing minutes of the period and with Milton short-handed, Fagon spotted Cunha ready to receive and shot it up. Cunha and Harrison drove in to the Sharpshooter’s zone and Harrison found the open slot.
The second got under way with Brampton bringing the play right to Corp. At 6:21 Evans, Harrison and Mulraney went on the attack. Evans saw Harrison open and the latter fired on net, but the puck rebounded. Mulraney quickly scooped it up and beat the Sharpshooter’s goalie for a 3-0 lead. Half way through the second Di Biasio was lowered by a hard slash across his upper arm which saw the Brampton player get a game misconduct, but # 10 came back to play with an ice pack taped on under the padding.
Four minutes of the third remained scoreless with plenty of back and forth action before Harrison and Cunha made the rush. Harrison didn’t have a clear shot and Cunha tallied point #4. Moments later Brampton got on the board with a hard high shot. Text book passing between MacGregor and Dutton got them into the opposing zone and Takeuchi positioned himself to receive the puck. With a scramble in front of the keeper Takeuchi kept at it until he found the opening he wanted. Galarneau, Evans and Mulraney playing on earlier success, fought their way through a big Sharpshooter D and crisp passing between the three got Galarneau his second point of the game. Ten seconds left, and short-handed once again, Di Biasio sent the puck to Wulfers Joyce who had to fend off a couple of Brampton forwards. He dug it out and shot it up the left to MacGregor who rocketed the puck on net and Milton had their seventh point with 1 second left to play.
Both teams played short-handed for a large portion of the match-up with a total of 25 minutes spent in the bin. Sharp netminding by Corp who saw a lot of physical action in his end. Milton outshot Brampton 26 to 20. Well played Hawks.

9 Jan 2010
It was a lesson learned for the Milton Winterhawks during an exhibition game against the Oakville Red Vikings. The Vikings outshot the Hawks 27 to 15. Milton started slow and Oakville took advantage to get on the board first. In the final minutes of the period MacGregor and Harrison got around the Viking defence and Harrison fired it past the Oakville netminder. The second period was all Oakville as they registered three more points to spread their lead 4-1.
The game became evenly matched during the third with Milton tallying another 4 goals. Evans and MacGregor drove the play into the Viking’s end and Takeuchi found an opening to make it 4-2. Then it was Dutton, Galarneau and Cunha who went on the offensive. Nice passing between the three forwards got Cunha into position to outmanoeuvre the goalie. It looked like Milton was closing the scoring gap, but seconds later the Vikings were back to a 2 goal lead. After a big collision with an Oakville player took MacGregor off the ice he came back to score the last 2 of the Hawks’ goals. First with help from Di Biasio and the last one unassisted. The Vikings were unrelenting and put another 2 past Schaap to make the final score 7-5.

4 Jan 2010
It was back to fighting form for Milton as they rebounded from the previous day’s slow game to win against the Caledon Blackhawks 7 to 1. MacGregor was first up early in the game with some great passing by McDonald and Harrison. Several minutes later Dutton sent the puck over to MacGregor who was in a good position, but it was Takeuchi who got a hold of the rebound and slid it past the Caledon keeper. Then a repeat with Dickin sending it in deep where it was picked up MacGregor who fired it off to his line mate Dutton for Milton’s 3rd on the board. The first period was drawing to a close as Mulraney dug it out of the side found Evans open and shot it over. Evans made it past several Blackhawks and when he found his opening blocked got it to Galarneau who was perfectly placed for a sharp blast on net.
The Blackhawks scored the only goal of the second while Milton sat in the bin. Great saves by Corp who saw a lot of action in his end. During the last period the Hawks registered 3 more points. McDonald fired the puck far into the corner where Dutton scooped it up and sent it to MacGregor for his second of the game. Deep in the third Dutton and MacGregor provided the opening for Takeuchi to tally another point. Moments later it was Harrison who raced down the ice and fired it over to Cunha. Cunha brought it in just left of the netminder and passed it to Michailoff in front for the Hawks’ seventh point.
Milton outshot Caledon 28-14.