Dec 30, 2016 | Jen Fletcher | 202 views
Hawks Take Fans on Roller-coaster Ride
After the presents were all unwrapped and everyone was stuffed with turkey and sick of their families it was time to get back to the arena!
The Hawks had an early start on their first day of the Wayne Gretzky International Hockey Tournament, but it didn't slow them down one bit. Although the Hawks had been off the ice as a team for 5 days, the Hawks came together and dominated against the Oakridge Aeros.
Nathan Lahey had a fantastic game, first by diving in front of the puck with his stick out and breaking up a scoring chance in the first period with the Hawks on the penalty kill only nine seconds into the game, and then scoring a great goal to get the Hawks on the board. Lahey stopped the puck at the blue line and stepped in with a few great moves getting a high shot off.
Up 1-0 at the end of the first, Blake Fletcher pulled himself from the game as he was too ill to continue. Reggie Gignac stepped in and played fantastic. He went in cold and made some great saves right off the bat, keeping the Aero's off the board. The Hawks kept up the offensive pressure in the second. Justin Vandervelde took a pass from Michael McIntyre and brought the puck down the ice, pulling a move right in front of the Oakridge goalie. The goalie took out Vandervelde but was unable to clear the puck. With the goalie out of position, Nevin Noble followed the play and knocked in the Hawks second goal of the game. The Hawks had another great scoring chance minutes later when Ryan Silva made a great pass out front of the net but his line-matecouldn't get a stick on it. That line didn't give up though. Lucas Sousa made a tape to tape pass to Ryan Silva who got a shot on net. The Aeros' goalie couldn't control the rebound and Camden Schaefer bounced in the third goal of the game for the Hawks.
The Hawks continued their solid team play in the third period and the defence continued to get in on the action offensively. Nathan Lahey threw the puck to Michael McIntyre who pulled some sweet moves and parted the defence to get a great goal. The Hawks fifth goal was also amazing, with some great puck movement from Ben McGowan who got the puck behind the net and Andrew Quarrie chased it down. Quarrie threw the puck out front, right to the stick of Ryland MacPherson who put it past the goal.
All Hawks played well this game. They played a solid team game and battled hard. Defenceman Parker Campbell had another strong game defensively but was also able to get into the zone and get some shots on net. His defensive partner Tyler Caswell did a great job holding the line and covering every time Campbell went into the offensive zone. Caswell used his speed to get back, trusting his goalies to make the save while he took away any passing chances.
The player of the game was Nevin Noble and Michael McIntyre earned the fire helmet.
The Hawks second game of the tournament was against a regular season division rival, Waterloo Wolves Black. The Hawks started out a little slower this game, which was a rough and physical game, but were able to come out with another win.
Halfway through the first period, down 1-0, the Hawks got on the board. Liam Lapierre skated the puck up the ice and fed it to Quintin Douglas. Douglas got off a shot and Justin Vandervelde pounded in the rebound. The Hawks continued their scoring in the beginning of the second period when Vandervelde got his second goal of the night. Vandervelde took a shot which the defence blocked and the puck returned to Vandervelde. Vandervelde simply chopped at the puck and it went past the unsuspecting goalie. The assists for this goal went to Douglas and Noble.
After letting in a power play goal, the game was tied at 2 at the end of the second. The third period brought some great puck movement from the McGowan, MacPherson and Quarrie line. They were cycling the puck great and were even throwing it back to their defensive pairing Campbell and Caswell to get some shots on net as well. Their hard work was rewarded when MacPherson threw the puck back to McGowan who was parked behind the net. McGowan quickly fed the pass back to MacPherson right out front and Ryland rocketed in a goal. Waterloo tied it up with a lot of time still on the clock. Less than two minutes later, the Hawks once again took the lead with a power play goal when Quarrie took a shot and MacPherson knocked in the rebound.
The Hawks secured their win in the third period with a great defensive game. They only allowed two shots on net during the third period.
The player of the game for the second game went to Ryland MacPherson and the fire helmet went to Ben McGowan.
The third game of the tournament was another early morning for the Hawks. Unfortunately it did not play out the same way as the first two games and the Hawks lost their first game of the tournament, getting shut out by the North London Nationals. The player of the game went to Blake Fletcher, while Andrew Quarrie got the fire helmet honours.
The Hawks headed into their fourth game of the tournament tied for the last playoff position, and facing off against the Kitchener Rangers Red. The Rangers started off strong and were leading 4-0 at the end of the second period. Despite the score, Reggie Gignac had a great game in net, making some great saves and not allowing any weak goals. The first period and second periods saw many Hawks take a seat in the penalty box, but they were able to kill every penalty. The Hawks were able to clear the puck down the ice, and Matthew Klassen was able to break up a play when he got back to the Hawks' zone quickly and stripped the puck.
The third period had a different energy for the Hawks. They started off with a goal by MacPherson after getting the pass from McGowan. The Hawks were on the board. Kitchener answered the Hawks goal with one of their own, bringing the score to 5-1. The Hawks didn't quit. Ryan Silva won another face-off and fed the puck up the boards to Lucas Sousa who got the goal for the Hawks. Two minutes later, the Hawks continued their offensive strike when Ryland MacPherson took a shot towards the net. The puck bounced off the boards to Andrew Quarrie who was standing right in front of the goal and roofed the puck.
Despite their late push, the Hawks had mounted a big deficit and just couldn't climb any further, losing 5-3 and missing the last playoff spot by just one goal. The Hawks didn't give up in this game, which doesn't regularly happen. The player of the game for this final game went to Justin Vandervelde, and Ryan Silva got to leave the arena wearing the firefighter helmet. Thanks to goalie Sylas Bairos for making the trek as Fletch was still under the weather.
The Hawks had some solid games in Brantford and were able to make some great plays with everyone working hard.