Dec 28, 2018 | GeoffRead | 393 views
Hawks Head Off to Holiday Break on a High Note
The Hawks finished their 2018 with a win, working hard to triumph 4-1 over the Bandits C4. It was the kind of game the Hawks had been losing too often - a hard fought contest that was essentially a battle of wills. But the Hawks ultimately outworked the Bandits in this one and that effort showed on the scoresheet.
It was just as well, because the day before, on Saturday, the Hawks had fallen 5-2 in a similar contest with North London C4. In that game, another evenly matched contest, the Hawks allowed the Nationals to seize the initiative and the Nationals deserved the win. The effort was there on the part of some players but not the whole team. One player who had a solid game was player of the game Zoe Read, who did not show up on the scoresheet but was notable for her hard work on the back check and along the boards.
Maria Fernanda Pimentel also made her mark in this one as she took two tripping penalties, one deserved and one not in her coaches' opinions. Pimentel always works hard and is still a bit unsteady on her feet so she sometimes wipes out the opposition inadvertently and that was the case here.
The two Hawk goals in the game came off the stick of James Nielsen and Kaelen Walsh, respectively. Nielsen took a nice feed from Troy Price but it was Walsh's goal that was the more memorable of the two. Walsh charged out of the corner and tried to fire the puck across the goal mouth to a waiting Connor Devlin. However, the puck never arrived at its destination. Instead, a Nationals defender intercepted the pass and tried, with authority, to fire it into the corner. Instead, fortunately for the Hawks, he shot it into his own net a la Kris Russell of the Edmonton Oilers.
Unfortunately, the two goals were not enough as the Hawks did far too much standing still in the defensive zone. The breakout also ran into trouble as the Hawks continually threw the puck up the boards onto the sticks of waiting Nationals instead of working it behind the net and up the other side.
That was a trend that continued in the Sunday game as the hardest moments for the Hawks against the Bandits came when the Bandits successfully pinned the Hawks in their own zone as they managed to do four or five times. But goalie Kayden Keating held the fort in this one allowing only one goal and making several great saves.
The defenders in the match, Aiden Hayes, player of the game Brandon Miles, Gregory Nicolis, Anderson Watt, and Read, who filled in for the missing Andre Prato-Duran and Paul Steele, had a solid outing as a unit aside from the difficulties breaking out: they kept the quality chances to a minimum on the whole. Miles, in particular, had an outstanding game breaking up rushes and reversing the flow with crisp passes to the forwards.
The Hawks were down one of their offensive stars as Troy Price missed the match with the stomach flu, but Nielsen and Nathan Mason filled the gap with two goals a-piece. Devlin and Owen Askew had a strong game playing together as wingers as did Pimentel and Walsh. Pimentel had one memorable shift in particular where she charged up the ice to cause a turnover and a great scoring chance for Mason. Then the play came back the other way and she raced back to catch the Bandits winger who was about to shoot on a two on one.
This hustle from Pimentel was exemplary of the Hawks effort on the night. It was a complete game from the team. Everyone competed hard all game long, deserved the win, and treated their fans to an early Christmas present.
Go Hawks go!