Winchester, Ontario – The Ottawa West Golden Knights (20-8-2) defeated the Winchester Hawks (10-17-3) 2-0 on Friday night at the Joel Steele Arena.
Michael Gallivan scored his team leading 18th goal and fifth game winning goal of the season. His low shot from the slot got through the five-hole of Hawks goaltender Brent Pledge-Dickson – giving the Golden Knights at 1-0 lead early in the third period.
Ottawa West Golden Knights Head Coach Steve Sundin say’s that Gallivan is their Mark Stone, “Man that kid can score. When he has the puck on his stick in the slot, it’s going in.”
Gallivan also extends his point-streak to a Golden Knights season-high seven game’s (9G/4A) with the goal while Max Bush recorded his team leading 30th point with an empty net goal in the final minutes of the game.
Miguel Daoust made 13 saves for his first regular season shutout of his career. His first career shutout came in game three of the 2016-17 Martin Division Wild Card Series, when the Clarence Beavers defeated the Winchester Hawks 7-0 to advance to the next round.
“That was one game for the books,” said goaltender Miguel Daoust when looking back at his playoff shutout two years ago. “I’ll always remember that because I never had a shutout in the regular season (until Friday) and then the playoffs game along and I was lucky enough to have my team (Clearance) play well in front of me.”
Daoust faced one shot in the first, eight in the second and four in the third. He say’s it was weird to face only 13 shots, but made sure he stayed focused.
“The most important part is to just keep your head in the game and to just make sure you don’t lose your cool. I like to skate around during the whistles to stay focused and there was one play in the first period where there guy (Winchester) dumped it in from center ice and I just slid into it because I just wanted that feeling of the puck.”
“He’s a money goalie and it’s tough for a goalie to only face one shot in the first period because you’re cold,” added Sundin.
Ottawa West outshot Winchester 50-13, which is the largest shot differential (+37) by the Golden Knights this season. It’s also their sixth 50 plus shot performance and the least amount of shots allowed in a game.
Head Coach Steve Sundin said that their depth is one of the reasons why the dominated the Hawks.
“I can throw out all four lines and I’m confident in everyone. We just wore down the opposition but we just didn’t score tonight, that goalie (Pledge-Dickson) was terrific, so I’ll take the two points on the road any day.”
The Golden Knights’ have 14 games left in the second half after going 2-0 this week. 10 of those 14 games will be against team’s with a .500 record or better. Ottawa West will take on Brockville next week followed by games against Casselman, Ottawa and Westport.
