HOLY MACKINAW Hawks
fans!! If anyone was near Duncan
McIntosh Arena on Thursday night, you would have heard the screams coming from
Hawks fans as they faced off against the Rangers. The boys played to a 4-4 tie on the
scoreboard, but a win in many ways.
The Hawks were down 2-1 at the end of the first thanks to a power play goal. Andrew Corbeil took a shot from a step inside the blue line and Ben Hedges knocked in the rebound for the Hawks’ goal. Despite only getting 3 shots on net in the first period, the Hawks were still in this game.
The Rangers added 2 more goals in the second period, but the Hawks didn’t let up. Ryland MacPherson was putting pressure on the Rangers when they were trying to get out of the zone and blocked a puck and took it into the Rangers’ end. The Hawks converged offensively, but were unable to get a goal. The Hawks were fired up though and everyone was working hard.
Despite the Rangers having a 4-1 lead, the Hawks did not hang their head or take off the pressure. They came out in the third period the stronger team and they outplayed the Rangers for the whole third period. Connor Gignac scored a goal for the Hawks, unassisted, when he took a shot at the net from a weird angle. Three minutes later, Justin VanderVelde brought the Hawks within 1 goal of the Rangers when he scored with a pass from Alexavier Deeb.
The clock was ticking down and the Hawks were trying to get another goal. Jackson Kent, Carter Whissell and Trenten Gillies were working hard to take the puck into the Ranger zone and stick handling along the boards. Cameron Koehler, Ben McGowan and Liam Westwood were all taking shots from the blue line towards the net. The Rangers were also putting on pressure. Luke McConnell was able to force all of the Ranger players to the corners so they couldn’t get a good shot on net. On a 2 on 0 push, Blake Fletcher read the pass and was able to make a save on the one timer attempt. Alex Hammer was able to get back by that point and clear the rebound. Fletcher got a lot of help from everyone on the ice. When the defense got beat, they hustled back to their net. The forwards all quickly skated back too and everyone worked on blocking shots and getting the puck out of their own end.
With just 1:03 left on the clock, all of the Hawks fans were sitting on the edge of their seat. That’s when Nolan Branco scored! All hands were on deck and the Hawks were able to keep the Rangers from scoring again. Although the Hawks worked hard to get another goal, it wasn’t in the cards. The game ended 4-4.
The Hawks should be proud of this game. They played hard from beginning to end. They played 100% through the whole third period and worked harder than the Rangers. Every Hawk player worked hard and the team supported one another.
If this is the way the Hawks are now going to play, they will go deep into the playoffs.