Feb 20, 2017 | Jen Fletcher | 451 views
Hawks Bring Back A LOT of memories and the SILVER from Ohio!
The Minor Atom Hawks made the long drive across the border this weekend to participate in the Buckeye Classic Tournament. The Hawks were placed in the A2 division and all the teams they lined up against were made up of players born in 2006-2007(with most of them being in the older group). The size different didn't phase these Hawks though and they battled through, earning first place in their division with a record of 2-0-1. Along with the great hockey, the Hawks also made some great memories as a team.
The Hawks all arrived at various times on Thursday and were able to spend some time swimming in the pool and playing mini sticks before the tournament began. On Friday though, the Hawks got down to business. The Hawks first faced off against a team from Bowling Green and they dominated, out-shooting their opponents 26-12 and winning 3-1! From the first face-off - won by Ben McGowan - it was evident the boys were there to play. The boys were once again passing the puck very well. Lucas Sousa was able to make a great pass out front to Quintin Douglas, but the Hawks couldn't convert on that play. They kept pushing through. Shortly after that scoring chance, the Hawks got another great chance when Ben McGowan and Justin Vandervelde got a 2 on 0 chance. Vandervelde pinged the puck off the post because the goalie took up most of the net since he was the size of a grown adult. Andy Quarry was using the point to try to get the opponent's defence out of position with great puck movement by the Hawks. Defensively, the Hawks were doing a great job clearing the puck and only allowed one shot to get through to Goalie Reggie Gignac in the first. Parker Campbell did a great job at this by laying his body on the line and blocking shots. With just 18 seconds left in the first, the Hawks finally got on the board. Vandervelde gave the puck back to defenceman Michael McIntyre at the blue line and Mikey fired a shot through traffic to score. The puck looked like it may have been tipped by Ryland MacPherson, but either way McIntyre got the Hawks on the board thanks to the quick shot.
The second period was once again controlled by the Hawks. The Hawks spent the entire power play of two minutes in the offensive end. The puck never once came past the blue line thanks to great defensive coverage by players like Liam Lapierre. Lapierre played really well the entire tournament and made smart plays and strong puck movement each game. The Hawks were having some difficulty with the offside rule in the USA, as they weren't able to tag up to delay the offside and the play was whistled right away regardless of if they touched the puck in the offensive zone. Quintin Douglas even tried to Superman dive across the blue line to avoid the offside whistle. Andy Quarrie's hard work in this game paid off as he got the Hawk's second goal of the game with 2:54 left in the second. Ryan Silva started the play by passing it to Camden Schaefer. Schaefer threw the puck to the net and Quarrie was battling hard in front and got a great shot off. That line got the Hawks third goal of the game also, this time with just 4 seconds left in the second period. Schaefer assisted on this goal as well, by making the pass to Silva who stepped in and roofed a hard rocket over the goalie's glove. Silva's hard work throughout the game, including his great face-off wins, earned him the team's firefighter helmet. The Hawks did a great job throughout the entire game keeping the puck in the offensive zone. Matthew Klassen was strong on his stick in this game as well as the first and even got some shots towards the net.
The third period saw a bit of fatigue from the Hawks due to playing on the NHL size ice surface, but they still battled hard and didn't give up. Despite having a fabulous game, the Hawks allowed one goal in the third period, on a fourth scoring attempt by Bowling Green as they were crashing the net and banging away at Gignac. The Hawks started off the tournament with a great win.
After a short break and a team pasta lunch, the Hawks were back on the ice. This time the Hawks faced a very tall team from Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The Hawks were once again hungry and fired up. In the first period, Liam Lapierre intercepted a pass and cleared it out to his forwards to start a rush. The Hawks did their best once again to get shots on net and put traffic out front. Ryan Silva had another stand out game. In the first period Silva made a curl and threw a strong pass out front. The Hawks struck first once again. This time Andrew Quarrie passed the puck to Quintin Douglas who scored by heading towards the net and though many opponents. The official game sheet, however, gave the goal to Reggie Gignac, who was the back-up goalie for this game and sitting on the bench. The players all thought it was great that a goalie was credited with the goal! The Hawks spent the last minute of the first down a man. Nevin Noble and Justin Vandervelde did a great job on the penalty kill.
The Hawks spent the first minute of the second period finishing off the penalty kill. This time Ryland MacPherson and Ben McGowan were playing strong, keeping the puck in the offensive zone despite being down a man. With d-men McIntyre and Klassen both in the box, the other defencemen really stepped up. Parker Campbell did his part by blocking shots, while Tyler Caswell skated hard and was always the first man to the puck. Nathan Lahey and Liam Lappierre did a great job on the penalty kill as well, as they held the line strong and got the puck in deep to run out the clock. After they were back to even strength, the Hawks went back to their strong offensive play and it paid off. Vandervelde through the puck over to MacPherson who took the shot and Ben McGowan shot in the rebound. That line had been working hard to get a goal, as earlier in the period MacPherson made a good feed in front to McGowan and then Followed his pass in case there was a rebound. Shortly after that goal, the Hawks once again found themselves on the penalty kill, this time down 2 men. The Hawks kept the puck in the offensive end during the 5 on 3 thanks to some solid battling for the puck. Blake Fletcher played one of his best games and earned the shut-out in this game stopping all 26 shots he faced, including a breakaway in the third period by a player Fletcher explained as being at least 5 feet tall!
After their two wins on Friday, the Hawks headed over to Nationwide Arena to watch the Columbus Blue Jackets take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Before the game started, the Hawks were taken down to the tunnel and got to high-five the Columbus Players as headed to the ice. The Hawks had a great time and the game even went into overtime!
With the Hawks not playing until 6:30pm on Saturday, they had all day to spend time with their teammates. Thanks to some amazing 20 degree weather and sunshine, the Hawks spent a few hours in the courtyard of the hotel playing mini-sticks. After the long wait, the Hawks finally stepped onto the ice for their final round-robin game of the tournament. The Hawks faced an pretty evenly matched team from Indianapolis who were 1-0-1 in the tournament. Neither team scored in the first period, thanks to some great defensive play by the Hawks. With an Indy Racers breakaway Nathan Lahey raced back and got a stick on the puck to break up the play. Another scoring chance was stopped by goalie Reggie Gignac who made a sprawling second save. Gignac played well all weekend and this was only one of his amazing saves. He made 17 saves this game and kept the Hawks in the game. The Indy Racers thought they had scored in the first, but Liam Lapierre was able to block the puck from going across the line after Gignac made the first two saves and the Indy Racers were going for their third attempt.
The second period finally brought some scoring. Unfortunately it was the Indy Racers who struck first. The Hawks weren't down for long, striking 57 seconds after Indy's goal. Lucas Sousa stepped in and roofed the puck from around the face-off dot. Sousa played a strong game all weekend, forechecking well and breaking up the plays. The Hawks really looked like a team out on the ice. Parker Campbell took the puck through the neutral zone with ease and went deep into the offensive end. He didn't need to worry as his teammate Ryan Silva stayed back and covered his spot at the blue line until Campbell was able to get back. It was great heads-up/teamwork play for the Hawks. Nevin Noble made a great pass in the second period to Quintin Douglas to get into the offensive zone.
In the third period, Indy once again stuck first and once again less than a minute later the Hawks tied it up. This time the play started when Silva put pressure on the opponent and tipped the puck over to Vandervelde who used his hard shot to get the goal. The Hawks kept up the great passing in the third period. MacPherson had a nice drop pass, thanks to his smart play.
After this tie, the Hawks still finished first in their division with 5 points. They headed back to the hotel for a pizza party and some sleep as they would have to awake early on Sunday for the finals.
The Hawks were up with the birds on Sunday and excited to play in the finals at 7:30am. Due to the warm weather the Hawks had been unable to play any round-robin games on the outdoor rink across from Nationwide Arena, but thanks to the early start, the outdoor classic was on! The Hawks would be playing on the same ice that the Blue Jackets sometimes practiced on during the month of February. The boys all shook out their nerves, donned their black under eye lines, and stepped onto the ice to make memories. Indy came on strong and were up 2-0 quickly. The Hawks were able to net their only goal in the third period, when Parker Campbell fed the puck up the boards to Ryland MacPherson who made the pass to Vandervelde. Vandervelde took the puck in and bodied his way to the net for the goal. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough time left in the game to overcome the goal deficit, an the Hawks lost 3-1. Blake Fletcher stopped 21 shots this game.
The boys all played well this weekend and each came home with the silver trophy to prove it!! Special thanks to the entire coaching staff and all of the parents for making this weekend a one that won't be forgotten.
GO HAWKS GO!!!