Jan 25, 2017 | Jason | 966 views
Back to the Grind
After over a week away from games after being eliminated by Delhi, Hagersville packed up and made the long haul to Tavistock for game 2 of their southern counties.
The time away from playing games showed early as the Hawks came out flat and a little rusty.
Fortunately for the Hawks, Tavistock didn't seem to have much jump early on either, as it was a sluggish offensive period in the first with neither team generating much offense. Finally on a harmful little play into the corner by Carson Mitchell, and the pressure he put on the defense caused the puck to get turned over, and before Tavistock knew what happened Connor Mendes and his long reach was able to pull the puck from behind the net and tuck it in for a 1-0 lead. While neither goalie had much else to do in the period, Austin Topp did have to make one big save from the slot to keep the Hawks in the lead going into the 2nd period.
It didn't take long into the 2nd period for a Hawks mistake to turn into a Tavistock breakaway and the tied the game up at 1 with a bullet shot. With the game tied, up the line of Mendes, Justin Kerwin and Owen Doolittle, went to work moving the puck quickly up the ice and into the Tavistock end where a few shots and subsequent extra effort ended up with Owen scoring while sitting on the ice just outside the goal crease. Mendes and Kerwin picked up the assists on the goal. Shortly after Hagersville picked up a penalty but was able to kill it off without much difficulty.
The third period saw Hagersville on their heels with Tavistock seeming to find their legs and pressuring the Hawks every chance they got. While they generated some shots, very few were of the high quality scoring chance variety, and Topp stood tall. With 4 minutes left on the clock the Hawks took a penalty which meant that Tavistock was going to have a chance to make the push to tie it up. A key giveaway in the slot gave Tavistock the opportunity it was looking for, but Topp said no way and turned it aside with a glove save. After killing the penalty and watching the clock slip under a minute to go, Tavistock pulled their goalie to look to tie it up, but Doolittle scooped up a loose puck at the Hawks blueline and skated to the Tavistock blue line before sliding it into the empty net to make it 3-1 and finish the game off.
It wasn't pretty and it was a battle but it was a victory for the Hawks and they improved to 2-0 in southern counties.
Next up Wednesday in Hagersville against Twin Center.
Goals - Owen Doolittle (2), Connor Mendes
Assists - Carson Mitchell, Connor Mendes, Justin Kerwin