ST. GEORGE – Exeter Hawks linemates Justin Reid, Jake Jeffrey and Matt Dawdy combined for 16 points en route to a 9-5 win over the lowly St. George Dukes Saturday night.
Reid had two goals and five assists, while Jeffrey had three goals and one assist. Dawdy had five helpers in the win.
St. George has the Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League (SOJHL)’s third-worst record this season and sits fourth in the McConnell Conference. Exeter has the SOJHL’s sixth-best record.
The Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead just over a minute into Saturday’s game, thanks to a goal from Steve Gingerich.
The Dukes tied it up roughly three minutes later on a goal from Reid Morrison, but Hawks forwards Brent Rae and Scott Muirhead scored before the end of the period, leaving the score 3-1 Exeter.
Reid and Jeffrey scored in the first six minutes of the second period, though St. George’s Grant Gardner answered on a power play with roughly six minutes remaining.
Jeffrey scored again with 4:11 remaining in the period, and the score was 7-2 Hawks after 40 minutes.
St. George scored two goals in the first five minutes in the third period but Hawks forwards Brent Rae and Jeffrey answered shortly after. Morrison scored the final goal of the game with 3:31 remaining.
“It was an OK game,” said Hawks head coach Jeff MacLean in an interview. “ We gave up too many goals ...  St. George is a weaker team.
“They’re lower in the standings, and we defensively probably didn’t do all the things that we wanted to ... so we’ve definitely got some work to do as far as that goes.”
The Hawks were missing their captain and top defenceman Tim Bilcke, who has been out since Dec. 27 with an undisclosed injury, and the team has missed him.
“Tim’s our best defenceman and he definitely stabilizes it back there,” MacLean said. “Any time you’re missing your captain and your best defenceman, you’re definitely better with him than without him, that’s for sure.”
MacLean said Bilcke won’t be back in the lineup for the Hawks’ next game, a Friday tilt against the Lucan Irish. Bilcke will likely play in the SOJHL all-star game Saturday night, however.
“He’s been cleared to play by doctors, and Tim deserves it,” MacLean said. “If Tim wants to play in that game then we’ll support him in that for sure.” The Hawks are on a five-game winning streak but have looked unimpressive at times against teams beneath them in the standings, including the struggling Irish.
“It seems like our team only plays to the level that we need to,” MacLean said. “It seems like right now we’re just playing good enough to win games, and we have to correct ourselves of that.
“We have to play a good, solid game no matter who we’re playing, and our game plan can’t change. Right now we’ve got to find a way to play consistent hockey, and play better than just good enough.”
Friday’s game against Lucan is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. at the South Huron Recreation Centre. The all-star game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Lucan Community Memorial Centre.
Jeffrey is the Hawks’ other all-star, while Dustin McTaggart and Tyler Medd will represent Lucan at the game.