Dec 13, 2016 | Jen Fletcher | 111 views
Bouncing Back
After a disappointing day on Saturday, the Hawks had a local game down at the Gardens on Sunday. Despite the snow falling outside, it was certainly heating up in Galt Arena with the Hawks winning 5-0 over the Brantford 99ers.
The Hawks started off with a power play goal from Justin Vandervelde. Quintin Douglas started the play, winning the offensive face-off back to Matthew Klassen who then passed the puck to Vandervelde who went bar down from around the face-off dot. Thirty seconds later, the Hawks put another point on the board. This time Parker Campbell fed the puck up to Lucas Sousa who threw the puck out in front of the net as he had linemates Camden Schaefer and Ryan Silva both crashing the net. The puck went off the Brantford goalie's stick and in, giving Sousa his first goal of a two goal night.
In the second period, Brantford was getting more shots off but goalie Blake Fletcher was there to stop every shot throughout the night, earning him his third straight shut-out. Fletcher also had some great help the entire night from his defencemen who were clearing the puck. During a Brantford scoring attempt in the second, Nathan Lahey stole the puck and passed it up to Ryan Silva who moved it over to Camden Schaefer. Schaefer threw a backhanded shot at the net while skating through and the goalie wasn't ready. The Hawks were now up 3-0. Nevin Noble also helped create a great rush when he threw the puck off the boards in the neutral zone to a teammate.
The Hawks continued their hard play all game. The line of Ben McGowan, Andrew Quarrie and Ryland MacPherson had some great chances throughout the entire game, but the puck just wasn't falling for them. I don't know what they did to the hockey Gods to make them so angry! Let's hope these three keep doing what they are doing because the pucks will eventually start going in.
McGowan also did a great job covering back on D when Michael McIntyre or Liam Lapierre would pinch in. McGowan is the type of player you can always count on, as he sees the game well and knows where to go to help the team out.
Parker Campbell had another really solid display on the ice as well. Campbell pinched in on the offensive play which Brantford broke up. Campbell was able to put on the gas to get back to break up Brantford's scoring chance. Tyler Caswell also showed his speed a bit tonight, moving the puck quickly up the boards before passing it off. It's nice to see Cazy skate with the puck because man can that kid move!
The third period brought more scoring chances for the Hawks, and eventually one more goal. This time Silva made a great pass up the ice to Sousa who was alone at the blue line. Sousa walked in and had a great hard shot at the net, beating the goalie.
The Hawks spent less time in the box this game, only serving 6 minutes of penalties. Unfortunately though, the Hawks once again had a high number of missed shots. It would be great to see the Hawks hit the net more.