Sherwood arena was filled with Hurricanes fans from as far away as Red Deer, Alberta for a Wednesday night rematch of the Halton home opener. After playing to a 1-1 draw in their first meeting with the Niagara North Stars, the teams were ready for a barn burner to close out the month of November.
1st Period
Play started quickly with both teams skating zone-to-zone when 56 seconds in, the visitors were called for an early penalty. A minute later, the Hurricanes would take the lead on a power play goal that bounced up and over the Niagara net minder.
At the halfway mark in the period, the Stars were robbed of a great chance as a Halton d-man made a smart play to stop what might otherwise have been an easy rebound tap-in on the open net side. After a full ten minutes, the 'Canes remained ahead 1-0 to close the first period.
2nd Period
Looking to build on their early first period goal, the home side would double their lead just 3 minutes into the middle period as a pass from behind the net to the centre man resulted in a 2-0 score. A few minutes later, the Canes would add a third goal on a similar play and were hungry for some more home cooking.
In the span of a minute, Halton found the back of the net twice more on the same shift. First the right winger managed to knock the puck out of air and put it away on a second chance. Then the left winger made it 5-0 after repeated shot attempts by the entire line with Hurricanes fighting for even the table scraps. 30 seconds later the North Stars were scrambling for left over crumbs in front of the crease, putting the biscuit in the basket to end the period down 5-1.
3rd Period
Continuing the game's trend of quick starts to each period, Halton would extend their lead on a shot from the left point less than 2 minutes in. Yet 40 seconds later, Niagara would gobble up a defensive turnover to make the score 6-2.
With less than 10 minutes to play, the Hurricanes received their first penalty after a nice offensive rush was stopped by an interference call. 20 seconds later, offsetting penalties in front of Halton's goalie kept the play at 5-on-4. Niagara would capitalize with a power play goal but that was as close as they would get. With just under 6 minutes remaining in the game, the 'Canes found themselves with the man advantage and a nice shot from left of the net completed the scoring at 7-3.
The night saw all three lines scoring plus one from the defense as Halton controlled much of the game with good puck possession for a convincing win over a tough rival.
Final Score:
- Hurricanes 7
- North Stars 3
Total Shots: Halton 30, Niagara 15