The Burlington Cougars left it all out on the ice, but the Trenton Golden Hawks were simply too deep and too strong on Friday night.
The Hawks got back on the winning track with a 6-3 victory at the Duncan McDonald Community Gardens following a tough shutout loss to the Pickering Panthers almost a week ago.
Trenton buried three third period goals to win going away and outshot Burlington 40-25 on the night.
Former Golden Hawks affiliated player Carter Vicente kept the Cougars close in goal with 34 saves, including a few high-quality stops in the first and got staked to a 1-0 lead on an early goal by Lucas Muhn.
Jaxon Pierce responded at the 9:45 mark, taking a strange bounce off Isaiah Shantz and rifling a shot top shelf on Vicente for his second of the season, also assisted by Jaxon Broda.
Beckett Ewart converted on a Taeo Artichuk pass at 6:34 of the second frame for his fourth of the year to get Trenton back in front, but the Cougars showed some fight with Reid Forster converting on a powerplay opportunity to retie the score.
Artichuk, just named OJHL East Conference September Player of the Month, whistled a shot through a screened Vicente for his eighth of the year with about three minutes left to shift momentum firmly onto Trenton’s side for the third.
Matt Indovina pulled off the ‘Michigan’ move, scooping the puck behind the net and dropping it just over the right shoulder on Vicente at 2:57, before Jack Ziliotto blasted a Reed Pettipas pass on the short-side to increase the lead to three.
Joey Brehmer buried a tight shot to round out Trenton’s scoring and Matteo Crichigno potted a late tally for Burlington.
Matt Hicks and Candon O’Neill added two assists each and Hayden Jeffery made 22 saves for his fifth win in six appearances, improving the Hawks to 8-2 on the season.
The Hawks will have a quick turnaround with a visit to Minden to face the Haliburton County Huskies at 4 p.m. Saturday.
(BROCK ORMOND)
