The Hawks faced off against the Waterloo Wolves on Sunday and added another mark in the win column!
Connor Gignac started the scoring early for the Hawks when he broke up a Waterloo passing attempt at center ice and was left all alone for the breakaway. Everyone on the ice was definitely playing hard for the Hawks. Liam Westwood broke up a scoring chance for the Wolves, keeping them off the scoreboard. Another great scoring chance came for the Hawks when Ben Hedges got the puck out of the Hawks zone with a pass to Justin VanderVelde. Vandervelde took the puck into the Wolves’ end before getting it poked away, but Hedges was following closely behind and grabbed the puck for a shot. The second goal for the Hawks came from a pass out front to Jackson Kent from Gignac.
The Hawks did not let up at all during the game. Nolan Branco rocketed a shot which was so hard it knocked the Waterloo goalie’s stick out of his hand. Although the Hawks were unable to capitalize on that, they still charged for the puck and battled hard. Defensively, Luke McConnell and Ben McGowan were doing a great job of tying up the Waterloo players. They were getting in the way just enough that the plays were broken up. Also on the defensive side of things Trenten Gillies was doing his best to block shots from getting to the net.
While the Hawks were short a centre due to a penalty, Jackson Kent was put at centre and won a clean faceoff perfectly. Kent was giving his all last night and was rewarded again with a second goal in the game. Another goal came from a breakaway by Nolan Branco. The fifth goal for the Hawks came when Branco and VanderVelde were both in front of the net with 12 seconds left on the clock. When the buzzer sounded the Hawks were victorious 5-3. This is the Hawks hockey we have been seeing in bits and pieces this year. It looks like it is all coming together for these boys and they are playing very well on the ice. This Hawks team is hungry for the puck and is attacking. They are making clean passes and going to the net for the dirty goals.