I’m sure many of you who read the title of this article were
expecting to read about another win from the Hawks. Unfortunately, the 8-1 indicates the
penalties called in the game in Burlington on Sunday afternoon.
After the first period the Hawks were up 4-1 thanks to goals from Ryland MacPherson (assisted by Ben Hedges), Trenten Gillies (assisted by Andrew Corbeil), Nolan Branco (assisted by Justin Vandervelde and Alex Deeb), and Branco (assisted by Cameron Koehler).
The referees then became whistle happy and Burlington went on a scoring spree. With 3 penalties in the second period, Burlington was able to capitalize and bring the score to 4-4. With just over a minute left on the clock, Deeb scored for the Hawks with the assist to Branco and the Hawks were ahead 5-4. Burlington benefitted from the man advantage once again, to tie the score at 5. The Hawks kept pushing ahead and Branco got his third goal of the game off a rebound from a hard point shot by Luke McConnell. The referees then called three penalties on the Hawks within the final three minutes of the game and Burlington was able to score two goals while the Hawks did their best to defend with only 3 players on the ice.
The defense was definitely tested this game with all of the penalty trouble the Hawks were in, while Blake Fletcher did what he could in net.
The Hawks outplayed the Bulldogs throughout this game, and were definitely the better team on the ice. They were moving the puck and laying their bodies on the line again to block shots. It’s unfortunate that this win was taken from them. They deserve better.