Jan 14, 2019 | GeoffRead | 436 views
Hawks Bounce Back with Solid Effort
The West London Hawks Minor Bantam #27 bounced back after a lacklustre Friday night to win convincingly 5-1 over Oakridge 37. It was a team effort, signalled by the fact that the consummate team player, Liam Stewart, took home player of the game honours for his gritty defence and determination.
The offensive star of the game was Owen Worby who put four goals on the board, but it was actually Cole Chick and his line with Matt Hodgins and Jack Churney that got on the board first. Chick carried the puck up ice and appeared to wait too long to either pass or shoot but made a little stutter step and shot the puck top corner on the short side from a very tricky angle. Somehow the sniper found the mark and the Hawks were up 1-0 less than two minutes in.
The Hawks continued to outplay Oakridge in the first period but didn't get any more goals until the second. Goaltender Zach Read, meanwhile, rediscovered his form in this one and provided the solid goaltending needed until his team found their offensive feet. Read allowed just one goal on a shot on which he really had no chance mid-way through the first.
Then, in the second, Worby lit it up. First he finished off a nice three way passing play on a power play with linemates Nathan Senese and #9 to put the Hawks up 2-1. Next, #9 outhustled Oakridge in the corner and threw the puck back to defender Jacob Grover who had snuck in from the point and threw a hard pass into the slot to Worby who redirected Grover's pass into the back of the net. Finally, before the period was over, Worby scored a third time to complete the natural hat-trick on what might have been the prettiest goal of the season when #9 threaded a needle through two defencemen against the grain moving away from the net in the slot to spring Worby on a clean break. The sharpshooter, hot on this night, wasted no time roofing one over the goale's glove hand. It was the stuff of highlight reels.
Then in the third period, the Hawks continued to enjoy the territorial advantage but only scored once on a solo effort from Worby when he dipsy-doodled through the Oakridge defence.
While Worby and #9's heroics were fun to watch, this was nonetheless a team win. Stewart played with some sandpaper and twice outworked hulking Oakridge winger #13, who must weigh more than several members of the Hawks' coaching staff, certainly the waif-like Coach Mike and the vertically challenged Coach Liam. Stewart just kept plugging away and came up with the puck consistently all night long. Grover and partner Noah Weber also had a good night, and Stewart's partner, Pyper Baker was her usual steadying influence on the back end.
Up front, the line of Brendan Walsh, Callum Knapp, and Matt DiCicco didn't score but they had several excellent chances. On one particularly memorable play Walsh, who usually never passes up a chance to wind up and take a slapper, inexplicaly did so on a partial break up the right side; instead, the big winger pulled the puck to his backhand and tried to beat the goalie to the top corner. It didn't work but full points to Walsh for his unexpected panache.
If there was a negative in the game it was that the Hawks continued to give up too many odd-man rushes. They were lucky in this match that Oakridge couldn't capitalize but 1) the defence needs to be a bit more selective when they decide to pinch and 2) the forwards need to do a better job of backchecking and covering for their pointmen and women.
Still, it was a good bounce back game. Go Hawks go!