Photo by Jordan McKinnonPhoto by Jordan McKinnon
Midwestern

Winterhawks Are Back in Southampton

The Saugeen Shores Winterhawks are heading back to where senior hockey first got started in Saugeen Shores.

The Southampton Coliseum will play host to a WOAA Senior Hockey League regular season game for the first time in 19 years when the Winterhawks host the Shelburne Muskies this evening.

It's not the first time the Winterhawks have called the Coliseum home, however, as they were forced to play the 2009 championship series in Southampton when the ice had to come out of their usual rink, The Plex in Port Elgin.

The Coliseum was also home to their previous senior hockey franchise, the Lakeshore Winterhawks, who played out of Southampton from 1989 until 1996.

General Manager Don Matheson is a Southampton native and played for the original Winterhawks franchise, but says the 2009 series when he was head coach is the memory that stands out to him.

"The atmosphere in Southampton when we won our first championship was just electric, I don't think it could ever be compared. Port Elgin has a great atmosphere as well, it's a lot bigger, but going back to the original place, it's like coming home," says Matheson.

The game against Shelburne gets underway at 8:30 tonightat the Southampton Coliseum.

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