The Hamilton Kilty B’s defeated the Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs 6-3 in Game One of the Golden Horseshoe Conference Finals at the Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena.
The B’s opened the scoring eight minutes into the first period on a power-play goal by Justin Monteith. Matthew Duarte started the play by bursting into the middle of the zone, taking a shot that rebounded right to Monteith who scored.
Caledonia would respond on a power-play of their own with under a minute remaining in the frame thanks to Calvin Crombie. Daniel Moro’s shot was originally blocked by a Hamilton player before deflecting back to Steven Laforme at the blue line. Laforme fired a shot that was tipped by Crombie to tie the game at one.
Moments into the second, the Corvairs took a 2-1 lead on a close up one-timer by Ryan O’Donnell.
Hamilton tied it again just two minutes later, this time it was Matthew Duarte getting the goal. Duarte got the pass from Monteith and ripped it up high, knocking off the water bottle and making it a 2-2 game.
In the third period, Caledonia took back the lead once more. Calvin Crombie received a back-door pass from Zachary Naherne and Crombie put it past a sprawling David Egorov.
After that, it was all Kilty B’s. Less than 30 seconds later, Hamilton had a three-on-one opportunity that they took full advantage of. Monteith slid the puck to Torin Hession who gave it to Noah Vandenbrink, tallying his first of the playoffs at a crucial moment.
Hession struck again later in the third to give Hamilton a 4-3 lead. Carson Lloyd fed a stretch pass to Monteith who flipped it on his backhand to a streaking Hession. Hession than dangled a few Caledonia defenders for a highlight reel goal.
Nathan Omeri and Noah Vandenbrink would then each add an empty netter to make it a 6-3 final.
Hamilton, now with a 1-0 series lead, will play again on Sat, April 1 at 7 p.m., this time a home game at Chedoke Arena.
-Jarrett Matthews
