Jan 27, 2019 | GeoffRead | 544 views
Hawks Break Through to Win Game
Early Saturday evening the West London Hawks Minor Bantam #27 had their second game in two nights against a West London rival. This time the Hawks squared off against team #17, who found themselves in first place heading into the match. This one, like the game the night before, would be a good test of the Hawks' mettle.
As it turned out the Hawks carried the play pretty much from the drop of the puck. Whereas Friday night the Hawks had to scratch and claw their way to victory, in this one they were firing on all cylinders. Coach Liam Walsh kept the lineup he finished Friday night with, leaving Matt Hodgins back on defence and Brendan Walsh at forward, and I don't know if the two players involved were happy with the results but the coaching staff certainly was: Hodgins was paired with Pyper Baker on defence and the combination was a force out there. They simply shut #17 down - there were almost no shots on the Hawks' net when #8 and #4 were out there together. They both skate well; they both move the puck well; they played like all-stars.
Walsh certainly did his part up front as well. He continued to grind in the corners, make smart, short passes on the break out, and crash the net looking for rebounds. His efforts earned him an assist in the third period.
The Hawks were all over #17 in the first period and rained shots down on #17's goaltender Nicholas Lansard James. James made some outstanding glove stops and Owen Worby hit a post and a crossbar. Thus, the Hawks entered the middle frame tied 0-0. The coaching staff continued to urge the Hawks on promising them that if they kept pressing they would be rewarded.
Luckily, that's how it played out. With just over two minutes to play in the second period the Hawks broke through when player of the game Nathan Senese, who played his most effective game of the season and was digging in the corners, challenging puck carriers, and making good passes to his linemates, fed the puck to #9 who made a nice shot to put the Hawks up 1-0.
Still, the game was very far from salted away when the third period began. Then #17 shot themselves in the foot a bit, taking a rash of penalties that helped the Hawks. The first was tripping penalty on which the Hawks did not capitalize, but on the second one, a bench minor to #17, the Hawks power play came alive as Worby took another nice pass from Senese, and faded from a scramble to the right to rifle it home over a prone Zach Allen in net for his first goal in two games - a drought of sorts by his standards.
The Hawks then made the mistake of letting up a bit thinking, perhaps, that their two goal cushion would be enough. There was a turnover by a Hawks' centre in the neutral zone on a soft pass attempt and then a failure to backcheck by the entire forward unit as #17 gained the zone and put a shot short side on goaltender Zach Read.
Fortunately, rather than sag further the Hawks bore down and the line of Callum Knapp between DiCicco and Walsh hemmed #17 in their end before Walsh carried the puck up the right side and found DiCicco who made no mistake with a good shot off the rush that eluded Allen. The Hawks' two goal lead was restored.
But #17 did not quietly. They came in on the rush; the Hawks were guilty of not moving their feet; a hard shot went in on Read; Read bobbled the rebound, which popped into the slot, and the Hawks' D neither swatted the rebound away nor tied up the onrushing forwards, one of whom scooped up the puck and deposited it past Read who didn't have much chance on the shot.
#17 then took their fourth penalty of the game and the power play once again went to work. Whereas the previous marker was the result of some smart net-crashing and a good pass by Senese the Hawks' next goal was a thing of beauty. Baker took a pass at the left point and feinted towards the net. #17's penalty killer bit on the fake allowing Baker to make a tape-to-tape pass to #9 in the corner. #9 then made a picture perfect one-touch pass into Worby's wheelhouse in the high slot, slightly towards the left side. The tape to tape pass allowed Worby to release the puck instantly and clang it off the crossbar and in. It was highlight reel stuff from the Hawks.
This time, finally, the opposition seemed to accept their fate and the Hawks managed to bring the victory home without further incident. Although the game was close, the balance of play was not, as the Hawks were full marks for the victory. Indeed, ironically, the Hawks' worst period was the third when the play was most even and in that frame they managed three goals!
It was a great team effort. The second pairing on defence of Noah Weber and Jacob Grover had a great game as well. Weber used his speed several times to corral loose pucks and skate the puck out of danger and move the play up the opposite side; Grover used his deceptive speed to catch a couple of #17 wingers on breaks and his considerable strength to outmuscle the opposition all night long. Read would probably like the rebound back on the second goal but otherwise had a solid outting in net.
Tonight the Hawks face the Bandits with a chance to take 5 out of a possible 6 points available to them this weekend.
Go Hawks go!