Jan 17, 2017 | Jen Fletcher | 196 views
On The Road Again
The Hawks faxed off against St. Catharines in their second away game of the weekend. St. Catharines has shown great improvement throughout the season and are hungry for their first regular season win. The Hurricanes are still in search of that win as the Hawks won 7-1 on Sunday.
Right off the first face-off, the Hawks put on pressure. Ben McGowan fed the puck to his new winger Justin Vandervelde who skated in a rifled a shot off. Linemate Ryland MacPherson was positioned at the net and easily put in the rebound. The Hawks kept taking the shots, and were rewarded halfway through the first with their second goal of the game. This goal came from Ryan Silva when his winger Andrew Quarrie threw him the pass in front of the net. The game saw many more passes from the Hawks as they were skating with their heads up.
The defensive unit was also getting in on the scoring action during two power plays. Michael McIntyre had the puck in between the face-off dots in front of the 'Canes' goalie in the second and placed a hard shot right along the ice in the corner of the net. The goalie didn't even see the puck and couldn't react fast enough. Less than 20 seconds later, the Hawks went up 4-0, thanks in part to another defenceman. Matthew Klassen was able to take a shot on net, and winger Camden Schaefer deflected it past the goalie. With the teams back at even strength the Hawks got another goal when they fed it through the centre to Vandervelde who then took off on a breakaway. St. Catharines was able to answer with their only goal of the game when the crashed the net and kept whacking at the puck under Fletcher's pad until it was loose and in the net.
The Hawks were able to get two more goals in the third, one each from McGowan and Vandervelde. The Hawks had many other scoring chances in the third and kept battling hard. Lucas Sousa was taken down along the boards near centre ice and he kept battling to get the pass off to his new linemate Quintin Douglas. Douglas got the puck into the Hurricanes' zone and Nevin Noble was able to keep control of the puck so his linemates could get a change.
St. Catharines had a scoring chance in the third when they got a breakaway. Tyler Caswell skated hard all the way back down the ice and to the opposite side where he picked up the puck for the steal. Cazy then fed it around the boards and the Hawks got the puck out of their zone. Blake Fletcher kept St. Catharines off the board with a great save on the one-timer attempt in the third.
Despite getting taken down in the first and giving the fans a scare, Parker Campbell remained in the game and battled hard throughout. Campbell held the line well and kept the pucks in the offensive end. Campbell got shots on net and made passes along the boards to his forwards.
Defensive pair, Nathan Lahey and Liam Lapierre can really read each other out on the ice and it was clear during this game. Lahey and Lapierre were feeding the puck well to one another - whether behind the net or at the top of the defensive zone.
Fire Fighter Helmet Recipient for forwards - Camden Schaefer
Fire Fighter Helmet Recipient for defence - Matthew Klassen