Baxter and Potts lead Golden Hawks to 4-3 shootout victory over Little Britain Merchants in PJHL action

By Jim Stewart

Ryan Baxter fired the winning shootout goal and Kieran Potts tallied two to pace the Caledon Golden Hawks to a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Merchants at the Little Britain Arena on Saturday night.

Tyler Johnson opened the scoring for Little Britain at 11:57 of the first period, but Potts responded 59 seconds later with his first goal of the game to tie it 1-1.

The teams traded goals in the middle frame with Caden Beaton restoring the Merchants' lead at 4:15. Potts's second goal—a power play marker at 7:11—deadlocked the teams at 2-2 heading into the second intermission. 

Everett Corneil's power play goal put Little Britain back out front at 3:47, but Jake Henderson's goal at 14:10 drew the Golden Hawks even and forced overtime.

After a scoreless set of extra periods, Baxter scored on Caledon's sixth shot of the shootout and Golden Hawks' goaltender Samuel Rudner repelled Beaton's breakaway to seal the visitors' second victory of the season.  Rudner stopped 24 shots in regulation/overtime and 5 out of 6 in the shootout to earn the W.

The Golden Hawks (2-26-2-0) host the third-place Schomberg Cougars (15-13-2-0) on Sunday, January 12 at the Mayfield Recreation Complex. Puck drop is 2.30 p.m.