Dec 01, 2017 | Lloyd Williams | 592 views
CLOSE CALL....AND AN UNEXPECTED OPPONENT
After a long break and struggling through a tournament our first league game in a while was in Glanbrook against what looks to be their strongest team. With lots of speed up front and a lot of luck in the crease they had the Hagersville fans convinced we would be leaving town with a loss.
Glanbrook got on the board early with a goal that I am sure Nolan would like to have had another look at, that goal gave them some steam as they repeatedly rushed the puck up the ice on odd man rushes and a couple of breakaways. Our steady netminder composed himself and held the home team to a single goal lead through the first period, a period that was a little unusual for us as the opponent outshot us by 7 - 3. The Hawks started the 2nd period with a burst of energy but the Glanbrook Goalie got in the way just enough to keep us off the scoreboard until Danielle Doolittle fired a puck on the ice and into the net to tie the game at 1 with assists going to Connor and Carly at 8:46 of the 2nd period. Just over 2 minutes passed and the Hawks were still pressing hard but a bounce off the Glanbrook post sent their speedy center off on a breakaway and Glanbrook was again up by a goal. Glanbrooks goalie was holding them in the game as the Hawks were clearly not happy about the deficit, but he could only hold on for son long as Chase Broker picked up the puck from Connor Mendes at a face off and hammered it past the Glanbrook target into the mesh........ on the following face off Glanbrook dumped the puck in and a missed cover up attempt by Nolan gave Glanbrook the lead once again which would last into the final period.
The third period was fast paced as our kids finally realized that wins are not automatic, we were on the attack and the Glanbrook was trying to hold onto that narrow advantage. Carly chased down a dump and made a nice pass to Connor who drove to the net and tucked a goal into the net to tie the game once again, Connor made a nice pass of his behind the net to Dean who walked out front for an easy backhand goal and with time winding down we had our first lead of the game. Glanbrook pulled the goalie to try and even it back up but an empty net secured the win but be careful boys and girls.............. playing one period usually isn't enough to earn a victory..........
The next night we were back in Hagersville to faceoff against our hometown opponent. Talk in the dressing room was that this would be an easy two points but these are Hawks too and they were clearly tired of being beat. Long story short, the white team scored, the black team didn't and the team that deserved the win.......... did. We did out shoot them by a couple of shots but they worked harder, skated faster and never gave up on a puck. You could tell by the celebration after the game that it was a confidence booster and a win that they wont soon forget.