Feb 28, 2016 | GeoffRead | 941 views
Hawks Have Good Weekend Against League's Top Two Teams
The Hawks faced a stiff challenge this weekend, facing the second-place West C4 and first-place Bandits B4 in back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday, and they did so short-handed, missing defensive stalwarts Cody Michiels (vacation) and Josh McCarvell (flu-like symptons) for both games and physical D-man Brendan Walsh (monster truck rally... yes, really) for the first contest. Although the results weren't quite what they'd hoped for, the Hawks showed they can skate with the league's top teams, dropping a tough 6-5 decision to West C4 and following that up with a gritty 6-6 tie against the Bandits. The tie, in particular, was impressive as it represented just the second time all season that the Bandits didn't win (they had lost one game previously to West C4).
The first game against their fellow West London team was a see-saw affair, with the opposition taking a fairly quick 1-0 lead before the Hawks went ahead 2-1 to end the first period. In the second, the Hawks extended their lead to 3-1 before C4 potted three second-period goals to go up 4-3. The Hawks then tied it 4-4 on a nice goal by Theo Enns, before C4 made it 5-4. Finally, with just 4-5 minutes to go until the curfew, the Hawks tied it one final time off a gritty performance in front of the net by Owen Worby, who potted his own rebound. Alas, however, the Hawks could not hold on as C4 iced the game with just minutes to go. To add insult to injury the Hawks' Callum Knapp scored a sixth goal about a second after the curfew buzzer after some nice work by Worby along the boards.
In such a close game, naturally there were several nice moments. Enns continued to have a hot hand, potting four goals. One in particular stood out, as Worby made a perfect cross-ice feed into Enns' wheelhouse on a 2 on 1 for the one-timer and Enns did not misfire. It was one of the prettiest goals of the season. Owen Verberne showed his hockey sense filling on on D in the absence of Walsh, Michiels, and McCarvell, breaking up plays, leading the rush, and earning a dubious penalty for body-checking. Verberne logged lots of ice-time as the Hawks had to go with 3 D, with Pyper Baker and Noah Weber turning in hard-working efforts. Baker got a more deserved but also smart penalty for tripping to break up a likely goal in the third period. Up front, player of the game Matt Di Cicco distinguished himself with strong two-way play, and earned two assists including a lovely set up to Worby for the 5-5 tying goal. Di Cicco also flashed his improving speed hustling up and down the wing and breaking up several odd-man rushes on the back check. Knapp likewise played a good two-way game, and Jacob Bamford earned an assist and hustled at both ends. In net, Zach Read had some trouble with his positioning but settled down and made some good saves.
In this morning's 6-6 tie, the Hawks again put a scare into a very good team by outworking them and hemming them in their end for long periods. Player of the game Verberne was once again called upon to help out on defense and did an outstanding job, moving the puck up ice crisply and making some outstanding defensive plays defending the rush. In net, Read seemed to have worked the kinks out of his game and was covering his angles much more effectively, keeping his body tall most of the time and robbing the Bandits on several occasions, including one windmill glove save. Among the forwards, Enns had another hat trick and added an assist, while Bamford turned in one of his best efforts of the season picking up a lovely goal on a breakaway and handling the puck with confidence all morning. Worby also quietly had a four-point game, with two goals and two assists, and he repeatedly skated the puck out of trouble in the Hawks' end. Trevor Commanda, shaking off a bit of a cold as well as a minor injury sustained mid-game, showed some grit working hard on the boards and working to get the puck out at the blue line. Walsh returned from his monster-trucking (again... yes, really) to a strong performance on the blue line using his size and strength to advantage.
If there was a dark-lining to this silver cloud it was that the Hawks at one point had a 4-0 lead and took a 4-1 lead into the third period. But the Bandits' #16, Seth Raymer, turned his game up a notch and the Hawks, who'd been successful shutting Raymer down until that point, suddenly had no answer for his speed, stick-handling, and wicked backhand. On the tying goal, one Hawk forward - clearly fatigued - gave up on back-checking Raymer who used the resulting free pass he had in the neutral zone to pick up speed and get wide on Baker. He then used his backhand to roof the puck to the far corner on Read. To beat the top teams, the Hawks will need to find another gear to finish strong on a more consistent basis.
Still, on the whole it was a good weekend full of exciting hockey. Great job Hawks!