McClure goal lifts Whalers to win over Wingham

FERGUS – Andrew McClure’s unassisted goal with just over four and a half minutes to go in the game lifted the Fergus Whalers to a 6-5 victory over the Wingham Ironmen Sunday at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex.

The goal came on one of five shots the Whalers had in the third period. It also allowed Fergus to secure a win in a game they trailed by three goals less than 15 minutes into the game.

However, the hosts responded from that early deficit with five consecutive goals, but Wingham tied with two straight, the second of those goals coming 2:04 into the third.

Wingham led 3-1 at the end of the first period and Fergus led 5-4 at the end of the second.

Ethan Meeker led the Whalers with a pair of goals while singletons were netted by McClure, Jacob Lesser, Keegan Clarke and Tyler Ewald. Zach Nault had three assists while Jack McDonald had two and McClure, Conner Bradley, Kyle Parsons and Ewald each had one.

Scoring for Wingham were Brandon Bishop, Ethan Smith, Jesse Coombs, Micah Kraayenbrink and Noah Wettlaufer. Austin Becker collected a pair of assists while single assists were awarded to Coleson Fischer, Jed Korson-Schmidt, Logan Burnham, Owen Rahn and Wade Robinson.

Fergus outshot Wingham 34-31 thanks to a 16-7 advantage in the second period. Both teams had three power plays with the Whalers netting the lone power-play goal of the game.

Jacob McKenney had 26 saves for Fergus while starter Garrett Golley had 24 saves in the first two periods before being replaced by Kaleb Meyer for the third period. Meyer had four saves.

• Guelph Sports Journal