PARKHILL – The Exeter Hawks beat the North Middlesex Stars 5-3 last night (Tuesday) in Game 1 of their Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League (SOJHL) divisional playoff series.

North Middlesex is the defending league champion and had the SOJHL's best record during the regular season.

Exeter had the league's fifth-highest point total but improved dramatically in the latter half of the season and has its sights set on a title.

Hawks forward Jake Jeffrey scored twice in Game 1, while Justin Reid, Josh Brohman and Jordan Brohman each scored once.  

Dashwood native David Reschke scored one goal for North Middlesex, and Aaron Bedard, a Hensall native and the Stars' starting goaltender, had 13 saves.

The series resumes Friday at the South Huron Recreation Centre at 8:30 p.m. See next week's Times-Advocate for a full report.