AMHERST – Luke Swanwick's goal 54 seconds into the second overtime lifted the Northumberland Nighthawks to a 1-0 win over the ARHS Vikings in the deciding game of their best-of-three Northumberland regional high school hockey tournament on Friday night.
Moments after Vikings' captain Andrew Skinner was thwarted on a breakaway, Ben Morrissey carried the puck into the Amherst zone on a two-on-one and slid the puck by a sliding Vikings' defenceman to Swanwick who redirected it by goalie Evan MacKenzie.
Both goalies were sensational in the game with Robbie Jones turning aside 30 shots to earn the shutout while MacKenzie faced 18 for Amherst. MacKenzie was especially sharp late in the third period and the overtime making several big saves, including a glove save from point blank with two minutes to go in the third period.
Northumberland is hosting the Division 2 provincial tournament later this month, while Amherst now has to place the Eastern Shore Schooners in a qualifier that will either be a one-game winner-take-all or a best-of-three series.
Amherst won the opening game of the series 1-0 last Friday on home ice before dropping a 2-1 decision in Trenton on Saturday.
dcole@amherstdaily.com
Twitter: @ADNdarrell
