Ironmen lose two over weekend, remain in fourth place

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

After a successful week with two wins over the division-leading Mount Forest Patriots, the Wingham Ironmen fell in both of their weekend contests, scoring just one goal over both games.

On Friday night, the Ironmen fell to the Hanover Barons by a score of 6-1, followed by a Saturday night loss to the Mitchell Hawks by a score of 3-0. Both games were played on the road.

On Saturday night, there was no scoring in the first period, but in the second period, the Hawks scored two goals in less than 20 seconds to put the Ironmen on the back foot. 

Zach Schooley scored his first of the season at the 11:03 mark of the second period, assisted by Tyson Hall and Carter Musselman, followed by Caleb Musselman scoring his seventh goal of the season at 11:21 of the period. He was assisted by Dawson Diet and Jared LeSouder.

The Hawks would cap their win with a third goal in the final period of the game. Jonathan Tenhag scored his fifth goal of the season at 8:10 of the third period, assisted by Charlie Rankin and Nolan Gagnier.

Evan Knight was in goal for the Ironmen, taking the loss and stopping 19 of the 22 shots he faced. Bradley Boville earned the shutout for the Hawks, stopping all 42 shots he faced.

Boville was the first star of the game for stopping a whopping 42 shots, followed by second star Jonathan Tenhag and Callan Ferguson, both of Mitchell, the third star.

The Ironmen were plagued by penalty calls, earning 62 penalty minutes, compared to the Hawks’ 16 minutes.

Wingham’s Kyle Stanbury was called for goaltender interference at the 20-second mark of the first period. Mitchell’s Zachary McCann was called for tripping at 13:06 of the second period and Wingham’s Matt Tolton was called for cross-checking at 14:26 of the second.

In the third period, Tolton was called for interference at the 1:16 mark of the period. Dawson Dietz served a bench penalty for the Hawks at 10:31 for too many men on the ice. 

Tolton was again in penalty trouble when he received a roughing penalty at 11:09 of the third and a 10-minute inciting an opponent major penalty that earned him an exit from the game.

Wingham’s Turner Mckenzie followed suit, being called for roughing, a four-minute penalty, at 13:43 of the period, and a 10-minute major penalty and ejection for inciting an opponent.

Kyle Stanbury of the Ironmen, at the same time, also earned a 10-minute miscellaneous penalty and ejection.

Caleb Musselman of the Hawks was called for roughing at 13:43 of the third period, followed by ejections for Wingham’s Austin Becker (miscellaneous), Nigel Kreager (cross-checking) and Josh Pham (head contact) and Mitchell’s Callum McCann (miscellaneous).

On Friday night, it was another penalty-filled affair for the Ironmen against the Hanover Barons, though this time it seemed neither team could stay out of the box.

Curtis Arnold opened the scoring for the Barons, netting his 22nd goal of the season at 1:20 of the first period, assisted by Carter Moran. Hanover would score the next goal as well, Joey Stimac’s 12th of the season, at 6:58 of the first period, assisted by Ryan Goetz and Ryan Colquhoun.

Josh Pham would claw back for Wingham with a shorthanded goal at 11:52 of the first period, but after that it was all Hanover.
Ryan Colquhoun closed out the first period with his ninth goal of the season at 18:51, assisted by Curtis Arnold and Carter Moran.

Ryan Goetz of the Barons scored the only goal of the second period, at the 5:41 mark, assisted by Ryan Colquhoun and Chris Ferri on the power play.

Curtis Arnold then completed his hat trick, scoring his 23rd of the season just 42 seconds into the third period, a shorthanded goal assisted by Ryan Goetz and Payton McIsaac, followed by his 24th goal of the season at 15:42 of the third, assisted by Carter Moran.

Garrett Golley suffered the loss in the Wingham net, stopping 34 of the 40 shots he faced. Riley McCabe won the game for the Barons, stopping 26 of 27 shots.

The Ironmen were issued 52 minutes in penalties, compared to 45 minutes for the Barons.

Wingham’s Matt Tolton was called for slashing at the 11:42 mark of the first period, followed by a cross-checking call against Hanover’s Curtis Arnold at 11:52 and a four-minute head contact penalty called against Wingham’s Kyle Stanbury at 14:41, the same time Hanover’s Riley McCabe was called for roughing. His penalty was served by Aiden Stanley.

Curtis Arnold of the Barons was called for cross-checking again at 15:58 of the first period, followed by another roughing penalty called against Riley McCabe, served again by Aiden Stanley, a facemasking call against Hanover’s Dylan Richardson and goaltender interference called against Wingham’s Turner Mckenzie, all called as the period expired.

To start the second period, Micah Kraayenbrink of the Ironmen was called for tripping at 4:24 of the period, followed by Hanover’s Payton McIsaac being called for tripping at 4:51 and Wingham’s Tayt Bramhill being called for hooking at 5:25.
Hanover’s Payton McIsaac and Wingham’s Dawson Fahrer exchanged cross-checking calls at 10:13 and 12:36 of the period, respectively, followed by a goaltender interference call against Hanover’s Dylan Richardson at 12:36 of the second period.
At 13:01, Wingham Matt Tolton would be the subject of the game’s first ejection - a sign of things to come. He was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and booted from the game.

At 19:20 of the second, Wingham’s Josh Pham was called for boarding and Coleson Fischer, also of the Ironmen, was called for tripping at 19:38 of the second.

Hanover’s Chris Ferri was called for hooking at 11:17 of the third period, followed by a five-minute major penalty for goaltender interference called against Curtis Arnold of the Barons, which was served by Carter Moran.

At 16:44 of the third, Wingham’s Nigel Kreager and Turner Mckenzie were both ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct, as were Hanover’s Cohen McIsaac and Payton McIsaac. Mckenzie was also called for cross-checking during the incident.
Hanover’s Cam Angst closed out the game with a cross-checking penalty called as the final horn sounded.

The Mount Forest Patriots remain in first place in the North Pollock Division of the Provincial Junior Hockey League with 57 points and a record of 28-8-0-1. The Hanover Barons are in second with a record of 23-9-2-2 and 50 points, followed by the Mitchell Hawks in third place with a record of 22-10-2-2 and the Ironmen in fourth with 45 points and a record of 21-13-2-1. 

The Kincardine Bulldogs are in fifth place with a record of 17-14-3-1 and 38 points, followed by the sixth-place Walkerton Capitals with 12 points and a record of 5-27-1-1 and the last-place Goderich Flyers with 11 points and a record of 5-29-1-0.
The Ironmen now play the Kincardine Bulldogs on Friday, Feb. 17 at home in Wingham, followed by a Family Day matinee against the Mitchell Hawks in Wingham at 12:30 p.m., a make-up game from earlier this month.

They are then on the road to play the Walkerton Capitals on Feb. 24 and the Goderich Flyers on Feb. 25.

They close out the regular season in Goderich on March 4 for a game with the Flyers.