Just 1 minute 49 seconds into overtime, the 18-year-old centerman prospect started the series-winning play by driving into the Mississauga zone before dropping a pass to the point in what resulted in the close-out goal. Winterton has two goals and nine assists in eight games, maintaining a 1.3-plus points per game average that he posted during the regular season.
Hamilton, regular-season OHL Eastern Conference points leader, will now face North Bay Battalion in the conference finals, hosting Game 1 Friday and Game 2 Sunday. Hamilton has swept its first two playoff opponents but North Bay figures to be a stiff test.
Hamilton, winners of the Eastern Division, are the top Eastern Conference seed with a 51-12-3-2 record and Central Division champs Battalion entered the postseason as the No. 2 seed (43-18-3-4). The two powerhouses faced each other four times during the regular season, splitting the season series.
For Tye Kartye, the postseason ended abruptly for the OHL Soo Greyhounds star. A 45-goal scorer during the regular season, he was delivering in the playoffs, too, with seven goals and two assists in nine games.
But on his first shift in a must-win road Game 5 in the OHL Western Conference finals, Kartye suffered an apparent collarbone injury while making a hard check on a Flint opponent. Kartye tried to play through what he later called discomfort on his next two shifts before admitting to coaches and trainers he wasn't able to continue.
The Greyhounds were left to fend without a top power-play scorer, eventually losing 7-1 for Flint's clincher win in the best-of-seven series. There is no further update on Kartye's injury.
"Tye is such a warrior," said Greyhounds coach John Dean to SooToday.com reporter Brad Coccimiglio. "He played a couple of shifts with a pretty darn hurt collarbone. I'm devastated for him to have to end [his Soo career] the way it did.
"He ended going out playing physical and putting it all on the line. I'll tell you something about Tye Kartye though. He apologized to us. That's the kind of guy [he is]."
In the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, forward Jacob Melanson and Acadie-Bathurst Titan stared down a must-win Game 5 last Friday in the deciding game of a best-of-five series with Maritimes Division rival Halifax. Titan earned a hard-fought win to advance to the second round and a matchup with another Maritimes rival, Charlottetown, PEI.
In a quick turnaround, ABT lost, 4-1, on the road Sunday against a rested Charlottetown squad, which notched a three-game sweep in its opening town series. But Melanson did manage to snuff out a possible shutout with his fourth postseason goal in Sunday's third period. The just-turned 19-year-old forward has six points overall in Titan's first six postseason games.
Titan dropped Game 2 Monday by a 5-1 final, going down two games to none in the series but heading home for Game 3 Thursday and Game 4 Friday with a chance to get back to even.
