Dec 04, 2017 | GeoffRead | 216 views
Hawks Grind Out 3-1 Win Over the Bandits
The West London Hawks C6 played a complete game and wore down their London Bandits B6 opponents on Sunday, posting a 3-1 win on the back of strong goaltending from player of the game Brendan Walsh, a hat-trick from sniper Owen Worby, and great team play from the entire roster.
The Hawks carried the play for most of the game. The Bandits have a strong defence corps and a good goaltender, so the chances were tough to generate and even tougher to convert, but the Hawks kept plugging away grinding down low in the corners and working the puck to the front of the net. Wingers Cole Chick, Nathan Senese, Zach Read, and Matt DiCicco all earned praise from their coaches for their diligence and persistence in fighting for the puck.
That being said, the score was 0-0 going into the second and when, despite another strong effort in the frame by the Hawks the Bandits scored to go up 1-0 a weaker-willed team might have folded their tents and given up in the third.
But not the Hawks.
No, the Hawks bore down even harder and were finally rewarded just under a minute into the third when Chick outworked the Bandits in the corner and centred to Senese, who fired a shot on net that was too hot for the Bandit goalie to handle cleanly. And there was Worby who pounced on the rebound and stuffed it home.
And then, just 20 seconds later, Worby bulged the twine a second time with a nice solo effort where he went forward from the centre ice face-off and slickly stick-handled around a couple of Bandits before firing a laser beam on net.
The scoring was completed late in the third when Read started a play in the Hawks end and chipped the puck to Chick who headmanned it to Worby and joined the rush with Senese who had come on for Read. Although some opined that Worby should've centred the puck to Chick who was rushing hard to the net, the centreman tried the shot anyway from a bad angle on the left side and was rewarded with a bit of a lucky goal that the Bandits' netminder would probably like to have another shot at.
Player of the game Walsh was not required to make a lot of saves thanks to the sound defensive game played by the Hawks, but he was called on to make a couple of tough ones from in close and came through. Walsh's night was made a lot easier by the great game enjoyed by the defensive corps consisting of the pairs Pyper Baker and Matt Hodgins and Jacob Grover and Noah Weber. As a group the defence did a fantastic job keeping the Bandits to the outside on the rush and outworking them in the corners. Centremen Callum Knapp and Worby also came back hard to help out and the wingers did their part by being in position for outlet passes.
In sum, this was one of the Hawks' best games of the season thus far, and even taciturn Coach Mike Worby briefly cracked a smile.
Go Hawks go!