Feb 15, 2015 | Jennifer Russell | 502 views
For The Love of the Game on February 14th by Jenn Russell
The
Hagersville Restaurant Peewee LL Hawks celebrated their love for hockey on Valentine’s
Day when Caledonia 5 came to town to challenge the team.
The first period was victorious for the Hawks as just over a minute in to the game Brett Russell sent a handsome shot to the top left hand corner of the net to put the Hawks ahead by one. Caledonia was not willing to lie down just yet as they continued to drive the net and goal tender Mason Leenders who, with the help of his team, managed to keep the puck out of the net with a few close calls. In the second, Caledonia did squeak a couple through, one when Hagersville was at full strength and one when Hagersville was down a player to take the lead.
Hagersville’s determination paid off in the third as they continued to drive Caledonia’s end and Dominic Baillie did a fantastic little move to deflect the puck in to Caledonia’s net tying up the game once again. The score remained even at 2 until late in the third when Hagersville was on a 5 on 3 power play and Captain Owen Mattice shot in a beauty to give his team the lead. Caledonia decided to take a risk and pulled their goalie with just over a minute left in the game to try and even up the score once again. The faceoff took place in Hagersville’s end, Russell drew the puck back to Nolan McNeil, who took a shot up and over the Caledonia players, down the ice, and in giving Hagersville a comfortable lead of 4 – 2 at 36 seconds left in the game. It was do or die for Caledonia and they continued to drive Hagersville’s end with a 1 player advantage as their net lay empty but Hagersville did not back down. The amazing skills of Leenders were evident until the very end of the third as he made 3 fantastic saves, one when there was just 6 seconds left on the clock. Fantastic game Hawks you played amazingly and deserved the win.