Orangeville Crushers are heading into a well deserved Christmas break firmly in control of the CCHL West division standings thanks in part to another pair of solid outings this past weekend, earning 5-4 wins over both the Seguin Bruins and Upper Canada Patriots.

Hosting Seguin Friday night at the Alder Street Community Centre, Orangeville knew better than to underestimate the lastplace Bruins who have started to show some signs of life in recent games.

Philip Teri opened the scoring, teaming up with Mike Arnold and Calvin Higley to give Orangeville a 1-0 lead at the end of one period of play.

Seguin cashed in a power-play opportunity nearing the halfway point of the second to tie it up for a few minutes before Tyson Fawcett and Trent Hawke answered back for the Crushers with Griffen Lacey adding the helper on both goals.

Trailing by two heading into the final frame, Seguin caught Orangeville's powerplay unit flat footed, scoring shorthanded at 3:13 then slipping another past Crushers goalie Mike Santaguida just under a minute later to knot it up once again with the score set at 3-3.

Mike Arnold continued to pick up where he left off before injury side lined him for the better part of a month. Teaming up with Alex Guptill and Norm Ezekiel, Arnold wired home his 24th goal of the season before Nicholas Vassos would score what proved to be the game winner, unassisted with eight minutes left to play.

Like any bear in a corner, Seguin continued to claw away at the Crushers. With their goalie pulled in favour of the extra attacker a goal from Chris Marinakos drew them back within one; but that was all they could get past Santaguida as Orangeville hung on to post the 5-4 victory.

Taking to the road Sunday night in Etobicoke against Upper Canada, a scoreless game was cracked open early in the second on a goal by Hawke. Upper Canada would roar right back, however, with three of its own before Vassos narrowed the gap to a single goal with 26 seconds remaining in the second.

Upper Canada would yet once again bring some consternation to the Crusher bench, tallying for their fourth goal just over a minute into the final frame.

From that point on however, it was Orangeville's game as Arnold, Guptill and Nick Quinn scored in succession to lift them past the Patriots and on to a 5-4 win.

The Crushers now have a week off and won’t see action again until they play Peterborogh in the Central Canadian Hockey League Showcase Tournament next Wednesday in Newmarket. On January 2nd, it’s back to the Alder Street rink to meet the East division leading Wellington Dukes.