The Trenton Golden Hawks fought their way to a narrow victory over the Pickering Panthers 3-2 on Friday night.
Thomas Kuipers tapped home the game’s opening goal 6:10 into the game immediately after Hayden Jeffery denied Jack Dean of Pickering on a partial breakaway.
The Trenton captain’s 9th of the season was assisted by Beckett Ewart and Joey Brehmer.
Angelo Protopapas got the Panthers back on even terms on a powerplay late in the first frame to send the game tied into the intermission.
The Hawks powerplay lived up to its name in the second.
Brehmer re-established Trenton’s lead by stuffing a shot home at 7:29, followed by Kuipers second of the night and the eventual game-winner a little more than two minutes later.
Josh Penney drew assists on both markers for the Hawks.
Jeffery then stabilized the Hawks net the rest of the way, yielding only a Peter Smith third period tally and making 29 saves to improve the Hawks to 31-8-0-2 and 64 points, putting them back over the Stouffville Spirit by one point.
The Hawks are in Minden to face the Haliburton County Huskies at 4 p.m. Saturday.
