As I sit down to write this article and come with a clever title, all I can think is how amazing the Minor Atom MD Hawks looked in their game against Brantford on Saturday night at Dickson. Brantford was sitting atop the standings, and Cambridge didn't care. The Hawks came out and bested the 99ers 5-1. The Hawks skated hard, made great passes, fore-checked, back-checked, put shots on goal, the players were into it, the fans were into it. It was a great win.
The game was scoreless in the first period, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any action. The Hawks came out and played a full game from the first puck drop to the final whistle, which is something they had been lacking recently. Short their centre Quintin Douglas who was out with the flu, Tyler Caswell moved up to take his spot. The Hawks ran with 5 defense, who played hard the entire game. They were tired but kept pushing. Caswell did a great job at centre. He played both ends of the ice well and knew the position well.
Brantford struck first, almost a minute into the second period when a man was left all alone in front for the one-timer and Blake Fletcher got across to get a piece of it, but just couldn't move quick enough to get all of it. the 99ers fans went crazy, as they had been loud leading up that point. Ten seconds later, Lucas Sousa gave the Cambridge fans something to cheer about when he took the puck in and roofed it after getting a great feed from Nathan Lahey. Brantford was still buzzing, but the Hawks quieted them down with two more goals in the second. Ryan Silva got the Hawks' second goal. The play started when Justin Vandervelde had the puck and fed it over to Ryland MacPherson who smacked it right over to Silva who was at the net. It really showcased some beautiful passes that were happening all game by the Hawks. The Hawks third goal came again from Lucas Sousa this time on a power play. This goal was a great second effort. Nevin Noble took the shot and Sousa grabbed the rebound and walked around the goalie to put it in. Those two had been gelling all game, as earlier Noble had made a great tape to tape pass to Sousa. The Hawks also showed off their penalty kill in the second. MacPherson and Ben McGowan did a great job at keeping the puck in the offensive zone to kill time. MacPherson really shone on the penalty kill at both ends of the ice.
Throughout the entire game, Nathan Lahey had some fantastic steals. He was really picking their pockets, especially at centre ice. Lahey then did a good job at getting the puck up the boards to wingers like Andrew Quarrie. Despite not being on the score sheet in this game, Quarrie had one heck of a game! He was all over the pace and got some solid shots on net. Quarrie also had a fantastic game defensively as he is another one who is good at stealing the puck away from behind.
Two minutes into the third period the Hawks were back at it. Ryan Silva fed the puck to the point where Michael McIntyre took the shot and Camden Schaeffer pushed the puck in for the goal. McIntyre was doing a good job this game holding the line and making amazing passes to his wingers in the defensive zone. He was playing a very smart game and got rewarded with the point. The Hawks last goal of the game came from Ben McGowan. Vandervelde made the pass out front to McGowan who played it perfectly and tucked it in. That line was making great passes all night. McGowan, MacPherson and Vandervelde seem to know where each other are at all times. Vandervelde made a spinning blind pass right to MacPherson's stick this game; McGowan was throwing the puck through traffic right to Vandervelde; and MacPherson was chipping the puck right to Ben and Justin all game. The fatigue was showing a bit on the Hawks' defence in the third but they dug deep and played hard. I don't know how he did it, but Liam Lapierre even had the energy to take the puck from behind the net, through the defensive and neutral zones before feeding it off to Quarrie on the boards. Lapierre really moves well with the puck.
Parker Campbell was getting a lot of shot attempts this game, and it was great to see the wingers use the point. Campbell was getting robbed with either the traffic in front or the goalie each time, but those shots were certainly wearing the goalie and 99ers down. The Hawks were also short Reggie Gignac who was scheduled to be back-up goalie for the game as he also had the flu. Campbell made sure his team knew to protect goalie Blake Fletcher as he told them 'we only have one goalie, don't let anything happen to him" and the Hawks did just that. In the third period as Brantford took a few extra hacks at Fletcher, the team pushed Brantford out of the crease and simply built a wall around him so no one could get near him. Matthew Klassen excelled this game at keeping the man in front tied up and away from the Hawks' net.
Like I said, a great game to watch and a great effort put forth by the Hawks. this win was just what was needed before the Hawks head to Ohio to play some great hockey games, have some team bonding, and do what they do - WIN!
Firefighter Helmets this game went to Andrew Quarrie and Lucas Sousa