With redemption on their mind, the Shelburne Muskies opened their WOAA Northern division semifinal series against the Saugeen Shore Winterhawks before the hometown crowd at the CDRC this past weekend. And if Saturday night’s performance by the Fish is any indication, redemption will be had as the Muskies doubled up over the Winterhawks to take game one of this best of seven series by a final score of 4-2.

It was Saugeen that ended the Muskies run for the championship last season with a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime win in game seven of their Northern division final; one most observers felt should have gone to the Muskies and, ever since then, Shelburne has had their sights zeroed in on setting that record straight.

In both regular season meetings this year, the Fish came out on top of the 'Hawks and, on Saturday night, they were bound and bent on continuing that trend.

Playing scoreless through the first period, the Fish were not without their chances, but it was not until just over six minutes into the second that they finally caught a break.

Winning a draw to the right of the Saugeen goal, Zac Duerden got the puck back to Warren Sly on the point, who then snapped a shot from the blueline that laced its way into the back of the Winterhawks net to give them an early lead.

Five minutes later, a heads-up pass from Bill Boyes found Sean Connor alone in behind the 'Hawks defense. Connor drove in down the centre line and wired a shot upstairs past Saugeen netminder Jeremy Beaty to make it 2-0.

Shelburne seemed to garner the lion’s share of attention from the officiating crew as a procession of Fish made their way to the penalty box, giving the boys from Port Elgin lots of chances. They cashed in on the first one when Shawn Walker scored with 8:40 remaining in the mid frame to draw Saugeen Shores back to within one.

Early in the third, Shelburne would go ahead 3-1 on an unassisted goal by Matt Lougheed. Weaving his way down the right side, Lougheed launched a shot to the top corner that Beaty was only able to get a piece of as the puck bobbled over his shoulder and into the net.

With penalties stalling the Muskie offence, Saugeen Shores had more than one golden opportunity to close the gap, including almost four minutes of five on three, but Rob Senay and Shelburne’s penalty killers held them at bay until Bryan Kazarian made it 3-2 with his power-play marker with nine minutes remaining.

From that point on, however, Senay turned away all Saugeen shooters while Tristan Fairburn added his fourth goal of the playoffs, an empty netter with just 25 seconds left on the clock to seal the Shelburne win.

Speaking after the game, Muskie coach Joe Bakes was happy with the end result but not so much with the way it was done. Coming off the Palmerston sweep, he mused aloud that perhaps some of his team may have underestimated things a bit. “It wasn't our best. Far from our best and what we have to offer. We have to get better.”

Questioning the officiating, Bakes also was quick to say that, despite that added burden, he and the coaching staff feel still coming out with the win will prove to be a character builder for the team and they will only get better from here.

Heading up to Port Elgin on Friday night for game two, the Muskies will not just have to contend with the Winterhawks but a large, vocal and very partisan home crowd who most certainly will be firmly behind the home team as well.

Saturday, it will be back to Shelburne for game three of the series with both games slated to take to the ice both nights at 8:30 and 8 p.m. respectively.