Down 2-0 to the Orangeville Flyers in their best-of-five Minor Atom AA Tri-County championship series, the Milton Winterhawks checked in to the Alder Rec Centre Friday night with a suitcase full of tenacity, physicality and desire.

Unfortunately for them, Flyers’ netminder Michael Cooper hung out a no-vacancy sign, turning the Hawks away time and time again as Orangeville skated to a 5-1 win and a three-game series sweep.

Kyle Whitton netted a pair for the winners, with singles going to Lucas Cameron, Regan Hasson and Devon Dunkerley. Andrew Caslagnette spoiled Cooper’s shutout bid with a first-period goal for Milton.

While the final score may appear lopsided in Orangeville’s favour, the bulk of the second and third periods were spent in the Flyers’ end.

The defining point of the game came in the second period. The Flyers were clinging to a 2-1 lead and they were in penalty trouble, including a 36-second span when they were two men short.

Cooper was superb. After positioning himself perfectly to block two point-blank shots from the slot, he came up with a terrific kick save to deny Caslagnette a second goal.

While Milton was coming away emptyhanded, Whitton scored his second of the game to make it 3-1.

After Hasson rifled home a rebound to put the Flyers up by three in the third, Milton made a bold move by pulling its goalie with four minutes still remaining and a Flyer in the penalty box.

With a two-man advantage, they swarmed the Orangeville net, only to have the larcenous Cooper rob them at every opportunity. The Winterhawk threat was later nullified when they were assessed a penalty.

Dunkerley’s goal at 12:40 sealed the deal for Orangeville and was an example of the stick handling savvy and great individual rushes demonstrated by the opportunistic Flyer offence all game.

He picked up the puck at his blue line, deftly deked a couple of Winterhawks at center, split the Milton defence and scored on a low wrist shot to round out the scoring.