The Wingham Ironmen and Walkerton Hawks collided in Game 1 of the Western Junior C Final and it was as close as it was all season long.
The two top teams in the regular season took Game 1 into overtime after Wingham carried a 3-1 lead in to the third period.
Brett Coulson scored the winner when a shoot in came off hard of the end boards catching Wingham out of position and Coulson wired it into the net to give the visiting team the 1-0 lead in the best of seven series.
Wingham took the early advantage courtesy of a Ryan McNeil - Alex Kuntz combination. A pass to the slot by Kuntz and the McNeil shot got Wingham on the board at 7:17 in the first period. Walkerton answered thanks to a shorthanded goal by Tyler Cunningham.
Wingham would take the lead late in the first thanks to goals from Bailey Poels and Alex Kuntz.
Neither team could solve the goaltenders in the second period.
In the third, Walkerton was able to find the back of the net twice with Josh Deyell and Jake Barclay scoring the goals. Barclay batted the puck out of mid air, through the legs of Wingham goalie Ben Nelson.
Wingham was 0-for-5 on the powerplay while Walkerton was 0-for-2 in regulation.
Eric Angeli stopped 35 shots while Ben Nelson made 23 saves.
Game 2 is Friday, March 6 in Walkerton at 7:2opm and will be broadcast on CKNX and you can always listen live on cknx.ca.
Game 3 is Saturday at 8:00pm in Wingham and Game 4 is in Walkerton on Sunday at 2:50pm and both will be on CKNX as well.
