The Trenton Golden Hawks fell in a battle of top teams in the East Conference, but not without their chances.
Hayden Sabourin won the battle of the ‘Haydens,’ outduelling Trenton’s Hayden Jeffery to help his Stouffville Spirit win 5-1 on Saturday night.
The Hawks misfired on eight powerplay opportunities and didn’t find the net on 37 shots until the dying seconds in another pressing game.
Not long after killing their first penalty, the Spirit opened the scoring when Hudson Armstrong was sprung on a breakaway to beat Jeffery at the 6:51 mark of the first.
Stouffville took full control of the night, achieving a 4-0 lead on second period markers from Griffen Boyle, Armstrong and Lucas Demiglio and never took their foot off the pedal.
Jacob Martineau made it 5-0 late, before Joey Brehmer found the net with only nine seconds remaining, racing after a loose puck and dodging a Sabourin poke check to deposit his 11th of the year into the vacated Spirit cage.
Jaxon Broda and Nathan McHattie assisted on the goal, which was no consolation in the Hawks second straight defeat.
Jeffery made 23 saves as Trenton falls to 18-5-0-2 on the season, four points behind Stouffville for first in the East, but with two games in hand.
Next in line for the Hawks is a 7:30 p.m. road game in Markham against the Royals on Friday.
