Eagles Pound Knights

Article by Ian Schoonderbeek/Media by Chris Archer

The Clarington Eagles continued their winning ways on Thursday night, defeating the North Kawartha Knights 11-2 at Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Complex. It marked the third straight win for the Eagles and the third win in three contests against the Knights this season.

Mitch Davies and Nate Stirling scored in the first period to give the Eagles an early 2-0 lead. However, the Knights would answer back with two of their own before the first frame was up.

The Eagles would score five unanswered goals in the second period, including three on the powerplay late in the period after some undisciplined North Kawartha play.

After Stirling extended the lead to 8-2 early in the third period, North Kawartha attempted to resort to physical intimidation. The rough play and Clarington’s pushback in response led to several ejections.

Jordan Shaw’s evening ended 12 minutes into the third after completing a Gordie Howe hat trick (a goal, an assist, and a fight).

Less than two minutes later, defenseman Ty Harris, who was not carrying the puck at the time, was laid out by a blindside hit to the head in the Eagles’ zone. Mitch Davies stepped to his teammate’s defense in a long tussle that resulted in two more ejections. The offending Knights player received a 5-minute head contact major on the play which would lead to three more Eagles powerplay goals.

The Knights took exception to the final powerplay tally, which led to yet another skirmish and saw Harris sent to the locker room along with a Knights player.

Clarington played the game with several important regulars out of the lineup due to suspension and injury. New suspensions to Shaw, Davies, and Harris, whose ejections all came with less than 10 minutes to play in the third period, will not help ease the pressure on the Eagles lineup.

Coach Dean Baumhauer was not pleased with the antics of the North Kawartha team in the third period. “We’re trying to get our line-up back intact,” said Baumhauer.

“The problem is we’re playing an opponent that is poorly coached and has zero discipline. Unfortunately, when you get up on them things are going to happen. It was the same thing in North Kawartha with all the fights last time. You knew it was going to happen because they kept putting the same guys on the ice.”

“At the end of the day, we’re just that much better than them. We’re not going to back down from them when they start taking cheap shots at us. We’re going to stick up for each other,” said Baumhauer.

Marc-Olivier Robert stopped 21 of 23 shots for the Eagles to pick up his fifth win of the season.

Clarington currently sits four points ahead of second-place Uxbridge in the Orr Division standings.

The Eagles have an extended break before they’re back in action. They travel to Lakefield on November 22 to take on the Chiefs.

In the meantime, fans will be able to catch the boys at the Bowmanville Santa Claus parade on Saturday, November 19 at 10:30 a.m. Those unable to attend Saturday’s festivities will get a second chance to see the team out in the community on Sunday, November 20 at the Newcastle Santa Claus parade starting at 5:30 p.m. We hope to see lots of Eagles fans there!

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