(Amherst, NY) – Milton came in hungry and determined. Buffalo came in enjoying a three-game winning streak but couldn’t find their passing and made several costly mistakes which led to their 6-3 downfall at the hands of the visiting Icehawks.
Charles Williams opened the scoring in the first period for Milton, a team that hasn’t lost a game in regulation since falling in Buffalo back on October 28. The Jr. Sabres’ Shane Bennett responded for the home team with a power play goal, and both sides skated into the first intermission with one goal each.
Jon Johannsen’s power play goal just 1:52 into the second period put the Icehawks back in the lead, but once again Bennett answered for Buffalo with his second goal of the game shortly after. David Seward put the home team in the lead with his goal at the 14:50 mark of the second. Sloppy play by Buffalo proved costly, though, as Milton responded with two goals, the first by C.J. Stellato and the second (on the power play) by Kane Elliot.
In the third period, Kyle Rowe’s goal built the Milton lead to 5-3. With a power play opportunity at the 15:24 mark of the third, Buffalo took a gamble and pulled goalie Parker Gahagen from the net to put six skaters against Milton’s four. The Icehawks, who had six shorthanded goals heading into Monday night’s contest, held back the Jr. Sabres power play and then put the game on ice when Jamie Gulliver cleared the puck from his zone and into the empty Buffalo net, scoring shorthanded.
The final score: Milton 6, Buffalo 3.
Gahagen stopped 22 shots in the Buffalo net while his counterpart, Paul Favaro, had a busier but victorious night stopping 34 Jr. Sabres shots.
The Jr. Sabres travel to Brampton on Saturday evening to face the Capitals, then return home for meeting with the Orangeville Flyers on Monday, November 21.
