Nov 12, 2018 | GeoffRead | 200 views
Hawks Suffer First Loss of the Season
The West London Hawks A4 played a solid game late Sunday afternoon but fell 3-1 to their association rivals, D4. The Hawks were frustrated by an inability to generate much offence and eventually suffered a key breakdown that saw D4 take the game and the 2 points that were up for grabs.
The player of the game in this one was Troy Price, who saved a goal by hustling back hard on a partial breakaway to steal the puck and shut down D4's attack. Price played a great game otherwise as well, and was one of the few Hawks to generate shots on net with any regularity.
The Zoe Read, James Nielsen, and Owen Askew combination up front also enjoyed some success and it was this unit that got the Hawks' only goal. Nielsen fed the puck to Askew on his right entering D4's zone and Askew put a blistering shot on net. Read was attacking from the left side and the rebound squirted out to her. She put it across the crease and a fortunate bounce led to D4's goalie deflecting Read's cross into the cage.
Aiden Hayes played a game up front and he, Maria Pimentel and Nathan Mason also had a hard-working game. Unfortunately, however, they couldn't connect for any goals despite a few chances to score. Mason, in particular, had a hard slog of a game and was hauled down several times without any calls being made by the referees.
Price's linemates on the "St. George" line, Kaelen Walsh and Connor Devlin, created a few opportunities as well. But the larger D4 squad seemed to give this line, like the others, a hard time getting to the danger zones in the slot.
Defensively, the group of Brandon Miles, Anderson Watt, Paul Steele, Gregory Nicolis, and Andre Prato-Duran played a strong game and were supported well by their forwards. Unfortunately, mid-way through the third the left side defenceman pinched on the boards to try to cause a turnover in the neutral zone. At this point, his partner in the middle of the ice should have backed up to provide a cushion in the event that the pinching D-Man didn't come up with the puck. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and when D4 retained possession the forward on the boards smartly popped the puck into the middle to another forward who was behind the second Hawks' defencemen. He then went in alone on goalie Kayden Keating, who played very well, and scored. The third goal then came on an empty net after the Hawks pulled the goalie to try to pull even in the dying minutes of the third period.
The end result was a little dispiriting, but the Hawks could take heart knowing they'd given a good account of themselves. The next time out the group will have to find a way to penetrate the high-scoring areas in front of D4's net.
Go Hawks go!