Jan 30, 2017 | Jason | 881 views
Playoffs roll on
Wednesday night the Hawks had an encounter with an unfamiliar opponent from Twin Center for what turned out to be an exciting game.
After a sluggish couple of games for the Hawks they knew they had to come out better in this one, and they got the immediate start they needed. Hayley Howarth slide a pass thru a Twin Center defenders feet to Owen Doolittle who quickly moved it to Connor Mendes for him to walk down the wing and fire a shot past the Twin Center goalie for a lead 1-0 30 seconds into the game. The remainder of the period saw both teams moving the puck but neither team being able to strike the back of the net.
The second period saw the line of Doolittle, Mendes and Justin Kerwin connect again, as Kerwin raced into the Twin Center end and with a second effort was able to outbattle the defender and fire the puck towards the net where Mendes was waiting to give the puck a baseball swing out of the air and stretch the lead to 2-0. Doolittle picked up the other assist on the play.
Shortly after twin center finally was able to gather some space and walked in on a breakaway that they snapped passed Austin Topp to cut the lead to 2-1. With the goal giving Twin Center some momentum, Topp was called upon to make his biggest save of the game to that point, as a lead pass sprung a breakaway from center ice. Topp waited and going into full splits mode, got his foot on it to keep the game 2-1 going into the 3rd period.
Just minutes into the third period, Owen Doolittle turned on the jets and split the Twin Center defense and slide the puck into the net along with himself to make it 3-1. Mendes and Howarth picked up the assists. Turns out that was a huge goal as a little over a minute later Twin center put one in to make the game 3-2 and keep it tight til the end. Doolittle and Mendes would combine for a 4th goal tonight this time with Owen netting his second of the game to stretch the lead to 4-2 with a second effort dirty goal from in close for Owen.
With the net pulled and the extra skater on the ice, Twin Center was able to set up a furious finish by jamming home a goalmouth scramble goal with 33 seconds left to make it 4-3. Fortunately for the Hawks that is as close as it would get as the Hawks kept Twin Center from entering the Hagersville end for the final 33 seconds and the Hawks came away with a 4-3 victory, improving their record in the playoffs to 3-0
Player of the game was awarded to Connor Mendes for his tremendous effort offensively as well as contributing with a couple of key shot blocks.
Goals - Connor Mendes (2), Owen Doolittle (2)
Assists - Connor Mendes (2), Owen Doolittle (2), Hayley Howarth (2), Justin Kerwin
Next up is Tuesday Jan 31st in St. George.