Nov 25, 2018 | GeoffRead | 246 views
Hawks Bow Out of Dorchester Tournament with Overtime Loss in the Semifinals
The West London Hawks Minor Bantam #27 had a good tournament in Dorchester this weekend despite posting a losing record of 1-2-1. The team showed resilience and grit, particularly after bouncing back from a tough loss in the second game and several players had strong tournament-long efforts.
The games went as follows. The Hawks tied their first match up against Thorold 4-4 on Friday morning. Then they got blown out by a team from Innisfil 10-2 Friday afternoon. Following that they bounced back to win 6-0 over a Barrie squad and qualify for the semifinals against Tillsonburg, which they lost Sunday morning 3-2 in overtime.
Your intrepid reporter could not make the Friday games but has heard that the first game was evenly played while the 10-2 loss was obviously pretty lopsided. Goalie Zach Read had a couple of goals he would have liked to have back, apparently, and there was some discord on the bench as some of the Hawks let the score get to them. More positively, Coach Liam Walsh reported the following players as having played hard until the end of the game: Owen Worby, #9, Pyper Baker, Jacob Grover, and Jack Churney.
Saturday, the Hawks built off the leadership shown by that group to put in a complete effort against Barrie. The game was closer than the score suggested but the Hawks used the small confines of the second Dorchester rink to their advantage to clog the lanes to their net for the Barrie natives, and shut them down defensively. Read also had a great comeback game and was called upon to make 4-5 tough saves to earn his shutout.
The Sunday morning game was another nailbiter as the Hawks were evenly matched with their opponents from Tillsonburg. Offence was hard to come by and the Tillsonburgers got the first one off a scramble out front of the Hawks' net with one of their forwards sweeping it in off the bottom corner far side on Read, who had no chance on the shot. The Hawks then tied it up in the second when Worby took a nice pass up the left side from #9 and tried to cut to the net. Tillsonburg was a very strong defensive team and they blocked Worby's path so the centreman craftily changed course at the last second and tucked a pretty wraparound in before the goale could get to the far post.
Unfortunately, Tillsonburg restored their lead off some poor defensive coverage following a draw in the Hawks' end early in the third. First, Worby lost the face-off cleanly to the centreman who drew it back to the point. Then, Nathan Senese, who actually had a great game otherwise, tried to get out to the point but did not get there in time and the defenceman blasted a shot towards the Hawks' net. Then the rebound popped out to a Tillsonburg forward in the slot who was totally uncovered for some reason. The player released a shot that Read almost got but the disc slipped under Read's pad and found the back fo the net.
Despite this setback the Hawks did not give up. This team has shown great resilience all season and that continued in this match. They kept the pressure on Tillsonburg as both forward groups - Callum Knapp between Matt DiCicco and Cole Chick, and Worby between #9 and Senese, forechecked hard and generated some chances. The defence too did their part as Baker, Churney, Noah Weber, Liam Stewart, and Brendan Walsh chose their spots well to pinch at the blueline and keep the puck in and the pressure on.
Eventually, this paid off with just over three minutes to go in the third when Worby took a pass from DiCicco who was about to head off on a line change and made several slick moves to get himself in on the goaltender from the right side. Recognizing that he was running out of real estate the centreman slid the puck to his right to #9. #9, then from a seemingly impossible angle, managed to roof the puck over the shoulder of the goalkeeper and the scored was knotted at twos.
The then continued to be close both ways with the Hawks holding a slight edge perhaps in puck possession time. Unfortunately, with 14 seconds to go in the third, DiCicco took an unlucky tripping penalty when he thrust his stick out for the puck, missed, and accidentally tripped up a Tillsonburg player. It was a good call but when combined with the fact there were several missed calls in the game it was a tough spot to be put in.
Thus, the Hawks started the overtime down 3 players to 4 for the Tillsonburg squad. At first the penalty kill went well as Churney and Walsh both took turns bashing the puck down the ice. Then, following a whistle, Weber and Baker continued the good work on the PK and Weber even took off up the ice on a mad rush into the Tillsonburg end. But as the penalty was running out the puck went into the corner and Baker went after it. She got there first but the Tillsonburg player clearly kicked her feet out from under her, took the puck, centred it, and Tillsonburg scored on the ensuring scramble after the first shot rang off Read's mask and the rebound landed in front of the open side of the net. The sequence left a bit of a bitter taste in everyone's mouths as a penalty definitely should have been called on the play.
Still, the Hawks had reason to feel good about themselves at the end of the tournament. Despite what could have been a disheartening loss against Innisfil, the team had rebounded and played well. They could have easily won the game and, in fact, probably had a slight edge in play.
Better luck next time! Go Hawks go!