Jan 11, 2017 | Jason | 876 views
Heartbreak in Delhi
On Tuesday Jan 10th Hagersville Hawks traveled down Highway 3 to open their First round OMHA match - up with Delhi Rockets. As neither squad had faced each other it was going to be a feeling out process for the first little bit, but Delhi clearly came ready to play
The first period was dominated by Delhi as the Hawks seemed nervous playing the favored Rockets. Delhi right from the opening face-off was swarming the Hawks end and firing some chances at the Hawks goalie Austin Topp who stood tall and calm in the net as he turned shot after shot away. Near the end of the period the Hawks ran into some penalty trouble, and found themselves killing a 5 on 3 for almost a minute. The penalty killers and Austin were up to the test though and shut it down to make sure the period ended still tied 0-0.
After being outshot 11-1 in the first the Hawks knew they had to be better in the second and they seemed to start to find their footing, generating a few chances while starting to limit the quality of chances Delhi was getting. With 3 minutes to go in a scoreless game Delhi fired a shot that beat Austin but not the post and he was able to pounce on the loose puck as it kicked around near the goal line.
Heading into the third with the game still tied 0-0 and fans from both teams on the edge of their seats to see which team would break thru first, and finally on the 25th shot of the game it was Delhi who opened the scoring with 12 minutes to go as they found an open forward in the slot who fired it home before Austin had a chance to slide across and make the save. Not to be deterred, the Hawks answered back 16 seconds later, as Justin Kerwin outbattled a Rockets defender on the boards in the corner, and fired a pass out to Owen Doolittle who knew exactly what he needed to do, and he buried it to tie the game back up at 1. Unfortunately a powerplay for the Hawks with 7 minutes to go didn't muster another one, but the Hawks were generating chances, including a goalmouth scramble that may or may not have went in depending on the players or the refs view of things. With OT looking like a possibility as the clock slipped under 20 seconds to play, Delhi carried the puck into the Hawks end and let a wrist shot fly that Austin got a piece of, and it slowly trickled towards the far side post and inched over the line with 16.7 seconds left. With the net empty for the final 16.7 seconds Hagersville hoped to use the extra man to their advantage and tie the game up, but it was not to be as Delhi held on for a 2-1 win.
Goal - Owen Doolittle
Assist - Justin Kerwin
Player of the Game - Austin Topp who turned away 32 of 34 shots he faced
Game 2 is Wednesday Jan 11th in Hagersville at 7pm.