The Wingham Ironmen live to see another day after beating the Walkerton Hawks 3-2 in game 5 of the Western Junior C final. It was a must win for the hosts as they came in down 3-1 in the series.
Wingham's top scorers were forced to fight through another night of strong defence from their opponents. Walkerton's ability to protect their goal has made things tough all series and it took a power play for the Ironmen to find a hole.
Alex Kuntz would open the scoring on the power play, putting the puck away in close to beat Erik Angeli. The goal came as Wingham began to put more pucks; and players towards the net, fighting through the Hawks penalty killers who have done a good job preventing that.
In the second Holdyn Lansink gave the packed arena something to talk about. The youngster undressed a Walkerton defender before going top shelf to put the Ironmen up 2-0. It was his first goal of the series and came as a bit of relief,
"It felt good to get the monkey off my back." He said after the game. "They have been covering me close all series and like to hit."
Walkerton would respond with a nice goal of their own. Calvin Penney sprung Lauchlin Elder and the big forward used his strength to cut inside and finished the play to put the game at 2-1 heading into the third.
Alex Kuntz would double his luck in the third for Wingham. In all alone Angeli did well to kick out the first chance, but Kuntz would chip home the rebound.
Walkerton didn't show any signs of quitting, a win would bring them the league title. With the net empty Brett Coulson would find the net to get within one but that is all that they could muster. Wingham forces game 6 with the 3-2 win.
Making 38 saves in the win was Ben Nelson while Angeli stopped 26 of 29 he faced.
Game 6 goes Friday in Walkerton at 7:20. You can hear that game live on CKNX.
