Dec 11, 2018 | GeoffRead | 286 views
Hawks Suffer Second Straight Setback
The West London Hawks Minor Bantam #27 suffered a second straight setback in league play Sunday night when they lost a 4-1 decision to West London rivals #17. The result alone was discouraging, but the fact the Hawks got badly outplayed for large portions of the game was worse.
The team was not in sync. Some, like player of the game Noah Weber, started slowly but came on strong as the game continued. In Weber's case this was evident in that despite playing out of position at forward, Weber used his speed in the second half of the game several times to generate good rushes along the boards as well as to harass B4 players into making mistakes. Weber was also singled out by Coach Liam Walsh for his positive attitude, as he played hard until the end and continued to praise and encourage his teammates. There were a few Hawks' players who were less successful at remaining positive on the bench and Coach Walsh made a point of emphasizing the importance of teammates supporting each other and not blaming one another for setbacks.
The Hawks managed one goal off the stick of Owen Worby who received a nice pass from Cole Chick on the play. Unfortunately, there were not a lot of other chances to score as the Hawks got consistently outworked and outhustled.
Particularly troubling was the continuing trend of poor defensive play. The Hawks showed a lack of willingness to engage B4 with conviction as the opposition won battle after battle in the Hawks' end. Men were open in front of the net. The backcheck was consistently weak. The breakout often broke down for a variety of reasons including that Hawk wingers would dump the puck up their own side of the ice not apparently realizing that if they were in the corner that meant no one was on their boards to get the puck out.
In sum, it was a crummy game and a dispiriting effort. Hopefully, the Hawks learn from the experience and play with more passion in future matches.
Go Hawks go!