Overtime victory gives RiverHawks berth in second round of playoffs

Goals were scored in waves Saturday night in Hagersville where the visiting Niagara RiverHawks rode theirs to the second round of the junior-C hockey playoffs.

The fifth-seeded Hagersville Hawks took a 3-0 lead into the third period, and were 20 minutes away from forcing Game 7 in a best-ofseven quarterfinal in the Provincial Junior Hockey League’s South Bloomfield Division, before No. 4 seed Niagara found the back of the net.

And the RiverHawks kept finding it after that, scoring four goals, including Isaac McDonald’s gamewinner 8:39 into the first overtime for a 4-3 victory.

Keagan Thomson, Matthew Stranges and Sam Ostafin also scored for Niagara, which took the series in six games and will play the top-seeded Grimsby Peach Kings in the semifinals, also a best-of-seven affair.

The RiverHawks outshot the Hawks 41-30.

Niagara went zero for four on the power play, while Hagersville finished one for two with the man advantage.

Niagara’s come-from-behind victory was the final piece of the playoff puzzle for the second round in the seven-team division.

The No. 2 seed Dundas Blues and third-seeded Glanbrook Rangers both opened the post-season with four-game sweeps of the No. 7 Port Dover Sailors and sixth-seeded Dunnville Mudcats, respectively.

Grimsby received a first-round bye after topping South Bloomfield in points during the regular campaign.

Game 1 in the Blues-Rangers semifinal goes Thursday night at Market Street Arena in Hamilton. Dates for the Grimsby-Niagara series have yet to be set.

Grimsby took the season series with Niagara four games to three, nine points to six, while Glanbrook, the defending playoff champions, took four of seven from Dundas in league play.