Dylan Abbamont and Nolan Underwood had a night to remember on Friday against the Welland Jr. Canadians, combining on multiple goals to lead the Hamilton Kilty B’s to a 6-3 victory.
The pair hooked up midway through the second period for the eventual game winning goal, when Underwood fed a stretch pass to Abbamont who made no mistake on the rush, going upstairs with the backhand after deking the goalie, making it 4-1 at the time.
Brodie McIntyre (4), Underwood (15), Sam Shakes (9,10) and Matthew Duarte (13) also found the net for Hamilton (26-6-0-0).
McIntyre got things going for the Kilty B’s just five minutes into the game when he tipped a Nate Tivey point shot down and between the legs of the Welland goaltender and into the net.
Abbamont and Underwood first got on the scoresheet when Tivey found Underwood at the opposing blueline with a long pass late in the first period. The forward made a nifty deke around a defender while staying onside to make it a 2-on-1 with Abbamont, completing a sweet tic-tac-toe play for the Kilty B’s second goal of the game to regain the lead before the break, after losing it earlier in the period.
An innocent wrist shot by Shakes in the opening minutes of the second period, which possibly changed direction off the stick of a defender, extended the Kilty B’s lead to 3-1.
Shortly after Abbamont’s 23rd of the season made it 4-1, Duarte was gifted with a partial breakaway on the Welland goal. He missed the first attempt, but kept jamming at the puck and eventually got rewarded with the goal that made it 5-1 for Hamilton going into the final frame.
Shakes added his second of the game on an empty-net goal with under a minute to go.
Connor Thomson-Dick (5), Zach Kent (8) and Peter Spameni (6) scored for Welland (10-18-3-0).
The teams traded chances early in the first period, and just 50 seconds after McIntyre opened the score for Hamilton, Thomson-Dick responded for the Jr. Canadians on a one-timer from the point.
It was all Hamilton in the second period, but Welland came out pushing for a comeback in the third. Kent narrowed the gap to three with a power play goal just over a minute into the period, and Spameni followed with his own a minute later.
Welland had chances to close the gap even further later on in the period, but Kilty B’s goaltender Gage Stewart (17-2-1-0) was up to the task, helping seal the win with 32 saves.
Keegan Jackson (6-16-0-1) recorded 34 saves in the losing effort for Welland.
The Kilty B’s are on the road Saturday night to take on Thorold Blackhawks.
Next Game Matchup Preview:
- Hamilton is 4-0-0-0 against Thorold this season, most recently defeating the Blackhawks 4-2 on Feb. 4.
- The Blackhawks were also in action on Friday night, a 3-1 loss to St. Catherines.
- With an overall record of 8-23-0-0, Thorold sits in 7th in the Golden Horseshoe Conference, while Hamilton sits atop the conference.
- This will be the fifth and final matchup between the teams this season.
