Oct 23, 2017 | GeoffRead | 134 views
Hawks Bounce Back for Character Win
The West London Major Peewee Hawks C6 had a bounce back game last night, triumphing 6-4 over association rival West London A6. In so doing, C6 exacted some revenge for a thrashing they took from A6 in the preseason.
All observers agreed the Hawks put together their best effort of the year thus far. The key to the victory was hard work as the Hawks showed a competitive fire that had been lacking the first two games of the regular season and won the majority of the one on one battles with the A6 team.
Coach Worby set the tone early, with a rousing speech in the dressing room that seemed to get his players fired up and even though A6 jumped out to a 2 goal lead in the first the Hawks kept working hard and were rewarded with 44 seconds to go in the period when Nathan Senese recorded his first of two nice goals off wrist shots in the game. Senese's marker clearly gave the Hawks life as they potted three unanswered goals in the second, two off the stick of Matt DiCicco and another by Cole Chick, who scored on a rebound off a shot by Zach Read.
A6 pressed hard in the third period and managed to score two but the Hawks did not get discouraged and answered with two of their own. Particularly noteworthy was Senese's second goal, which he scored off a nice draw from centreman Callum Knapp who pulled the puck to his right-winger who then rifled it home. DiCicco rounded out the scoring and completed his first career hat trick. Offensively, Knapp also had a big night with four well-earned assists and Senese added two assists to go with his two goals.
Much credit goes to Coach Worby for the win as he shuffled his lines, breaking up the pairing of DiCicco and Worby, which paid dividends and generated offence from both units. The first trio at the start of the game was Knapp between DiCicco and Read and the second Worby centring Chick and Senese but thanks to a too many men on the ice penalty, Read and Senese switched spots and both lines began to click.
Equally key to the victory was the excellent play of the Hawks' defence. In particular, Matt Hodgins dropped back to play his first game of the season on the back end and was outstanding playing beside Pyper Baker. With Hodgins and Baker together, the Hawks have a truly formidable pairing that can dramatically improve their chances of winning games. Both excellent skaters, the dynamic duo proved very hard on the A6 forwards cutting them off on the rush and moving the puck up ice efficiently as both made some nice passes to the forwards. The second pair of Noah Weber and Jacob Grover also did good work, succeeding most of the night in forcing the A6 snipers outside and clearing the front of the net.
In goal, Brendan Walsh had a solid game making the first stop all night long and counting on his defencemen to clear away his rebounds. Most importantly, Walsh avoided any deflating bad goals, which allowed his team to play with confidence.
Hopefully, with this win under their belts, the Hawks can string together some good games. Their fans demand no less as social media was abuzz with discussions of the Hawks' inspired play following the game.
Go Hawks go!