Jan 13, 2017 | Jason | 937 views
Battle in the Nest
After facing a heartbreaker of a loss in Game 1 on Tuesday in Delhi, they were right back at it on Wednesday night for Game 2 in Hagersville looking to be on the other side of the heart breaker.
The first period didn't get off to the start that the Hawks were looking for with Delhi striking in the first 2 minutes for a quick 1-0 Delhi lead before the Hawks even knew what hit them. The Hawks gathered their legs after that and Austin Topp continued to his exceptional play from the night before stopping everything that the Rockets could throw at him. The Hawks had a few chances but weren't able to slip anything past the Delhi goaltender.
The second period brought much of the same with Topp continuing to be a busy goalie and standing on his head stopping shot after shot. With 5 minutes to go in the period the Hawks caught the break they were looking for when Zach Bezemer fired a shot at the net that banked off the Delhi defence and in past the Rockets goalie to tie it up 1-1. Carson Mitchell and Braeden Heeg picked up the assists on the play.
The remainder of the period was fairly even with Topp making a handful more big saves to send the game into the period tied up still.
In the third period Owen Doolittle received a tape to tape pass from Connor Mendes, and using his speed he was able to pull away from the Rockets defender for a breakaway that he made no mistake on and gave Hagersville their first lead of the series at 2-1. As the period wore on and Delhi pressed and pressed, Topp continued to stop anything and everything frustrating the Rockets time and time again. With a little over 2 minutes to go, and Delhi swarming around the net, they were able to jam a loose puck that appeared to be covered by Austin into the net and after the refs talked, they ruled it a good goal and we had a tie game 2-2. A Hagersville penalty with a minute and a half to go in the period meant that the Hawks would be forced to spend the game shorthanded if they wanted to push it to Overtime. The penalty killing crew of Mitchell, Bezemer, Hayley Howarth, Evan Sibbick and Kaellum Meyer were taking turns throwing their bodies at anything Delhi was putting towards the net, and when they couldn't Austin calmly squeezed everything that got to him. A Delhi penalty with 30 seconds left meant that we would play some 4 on 4. Neither team was able to get it in, so off to Overtime this game was gonna go.
In the Overtime, the Hawks couldn't get anything going after killing off the rest of their penalty and having an abbreviated powerplay. With both teams back to five aside, it was a matter of which team was going to be able to break thru, and unfortunately with just under 5 minutes to go in the Overtime, a Delhi player slipped behind the Hawks defenders and was left alone in front of the net. A quick forehand, backhand deke and on their 48th shot of the game they were able to put it in the back of the net for a Delhi victory and a 2-0 lead in the series.
Hats off to all Hagersville players who gave it everything they possibly had in the loss.
Goals - Zach Bezemer, Owen Doolittle
Assists - Connor Mendes, Carson Mitchell, Braeden Heeg
With their OMHA lives on the line, game 3 is Saturday afternoon at 4pm in Hagersville. Come on out to cheer on your Hawks.