Jan 27, 2018 | GeoffRead | 378 views
Hawks Fall 5-3 to Bandits
The Hawks had a bit of a tough game last night, playing without top defensive defenseman Pyper Baker and goal scorer Matt DiCicco, the Hawks lost a tightly contested 5-3 decision to the Bandits B6. This was a cleanly played game that could have gone either way, but it was a night where the bounces didn't favour the undermanned Hawks.
As has been their habit too often this season, the Hawks staggered out of the gate standing still and letting the Bandits run around their zone unimpeded. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in a Bandits' goal on the first shift, as some scrambly play in front of the net led to a shot through traffic that eluded goaltender Zach Read.
The Hawks, however, also showed their usual resilience by tying the game a few minutes later off a nice rush and shot from Owen Worby. In a pattern that became something of a theme on the night, Cole Chick passed the puck to Worby and earned and assist. The two would prove a dynamic duo providing all of the team's offense.
It was a back and forth game, and the Bandits pulled back ahead before the first was over on a nice goal off a 2 on 1. The Hawks gave up too many chances of this kind on the night, letting the Bandits break in on odd man rushes repeatedly throughout the game.
The game's fourth goal was the Hawks' second, in the dying minutes of the second period, as Cole Chick streaked across the blue line up the middle, Worby hit him with a perfect pass from the left side that sent Chick in on a partial break. The lanky winger put a nice shot high in on the Bandits' netminder to tie the game up.
Sadly, less than a minute later the Bandits replied on a partial breakaway. The third period thus began with the Bandits leading 3-2.
The period began well for the Hawks, as five minutes in Worby fought off a check near the left face-off circle to put a hot pass across the crease to Chick who buried it into the yawning cage. The game was tied 3-3.
Alas, a combination of bad luck and sloppy play doomed the Hawks on this night as the Bandits scored two more goals. Noah Weber continued his strong play from the tournament and was the Hawks' best defenseman in the game, carrying the puck out of harm's way repeatedly and moving it up ice efficiently in a manner reminiscent of his old defense partner, Baker. Like Baker, he was also anticipating the play way and breaking up Bandit rushes before they started by cutting off and intercepting passes or poking the puck off Bandit sticks. It therefore seemed a little tragic that on the Bandits' fourth goal, Weber skated directly in front of Read just as a Bandits' defenseman took a hard wrist shot from the point. The screened Read ducked to try to look around his defenseman and the puck sailed into the net just over his head.
Like Weber, Read had had a good game to that point stopping a breakaway and doing an excellent job controlling his rebounds. Likewise, while defenseman Matt Hodgins struggled a little bit handling the puck in this game, he too had helped his team on the night, carrying the puck up ice and outhustling the Bandits in the corners. Again, then, like with Weber it was a shame that Hodgins and Read both made critical errors on the final goal. Hodgins took a pass at the point; there was a man on him and it was a difficult play, but it seemed he had enough time to get rid of the puck; unfortunately, he bobbled it momentarily which allowed the Bandits' forward to steal it and streak in on a breakaway. Would Read come up with another heroic save as he had done earlier in the match? Sadly, he didn't really give himself a chance to do so as he was so badly out of position, standing almost in front of his left post, that he gave the Bandits' shooter the entire right side (from his persepctive) of the net to shoot at. And unfortunately, the Bandits' player didn't miss the mark to seal the victory for his team.
Even the best players make mistakes. And Weber, Hodgins, and Read were not the only Hawks who erred in this game. Brendan Walsh patrolled the right wing in the match, for example, and inexplicably turned away from the puck several times. The normally steady Jacob Grover gave the puck away more than once and was, very unusually, outworked once or twice on the boards. Callum Knapp carried the puck well all night long but then finished several pretty rushes by throwing the disc blindly out front to no one in particular. Nathan Senese played a solid game and had one excellent shot on net, and yet twice in the match he was playing the wrong wing after a change. Chick gave up on a couple plays on the boards allowing the Bandits to advance up the ice with ease. Even Worby, the player of the game for his three points and especially his two pretty passes to Chick, nonetheless missed several opportunities to headman the puck to Chick and call up Miles Peterkin who did a nice job playing left wing for the missing Di Cicco. A couple of these plays ended up in turnovers in the Hawks' zone.
In sum, the Hawks didn't lose because of any one player's individual error: they lost because collectively, they made too many mistakes. The effort was generally there, but for whatever reason, maybe it was a hangover effect from the tournament, or maybe it was just a Friday night game and they were a little tired, the Hawks had too many mental breakdowns on the night to win.
Good teams learn from their mistakes and strive for greater consistency. Hopefully, the Hawks will show this quality in this afternoon's match against North London. They've shown it before.
Go Hawks go!