“I’ve got a good feeling about this,” said Athabasca midget B1 Winter Hawks head coach Tom Hutchison as he headed into the dressing room between second and third periods Saturday night, looking at a 6-0 mid-game score against the Whitecourt Wolverines.
By the end of game at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex, the Athabasca team almost doubled that score, finishing with an 11-0 win against the Whitecourt team in their first shutout of the year.
“We had a game against Jasper where we won 9-2, but we haven’t had a shutout all year,” said Hutchison.
The Winter Hawks scored 25 seconds into the first period and pulled off five goals in the same period.
“Things were looking pretty good from the first period on,” said Hutchison.
The team had a weaker second period, getting caught up in a number of odd-man rushes towards the end of the period, but they bounced back in the third.
“Our defence in the third period I thought was very good as well,” said Hutchison, pleased with the team’s puck handling on Saturday.
Two players pulled off hat tricks — Harmony Strathdee and Tanner Richards.
“I was expecting them to come out pretty hard,” said Richards, who played with the North Central Bulls last year and has brought that competitive drive to the midget B1 team. “It felt pretty good, coming out and dominating them. We actually let them have it in the second period. In the second period, we kind of blew it.
“I feel pretty great. I haven’t gotten too many goals this year — I think I only got one other goal actually this year — so today felt pretty good,” said Richards.
Tactically, the team has been working on defence and “getting better positional play in our own end,” said Hutchison, who added that the team has been working on odd-man rushes and cycling and downloading in the opposing end.
Those key manoeuvres are meant to blend up the opposing defence and generate scoring opportunities.
The coach expects the next couple of games will be tough, as the Winter Hawks face teams that have each beaten the Winter Hawks by one goal before.
Hutchison wants the team working even more on defence for next game, which will be in Athabasca this Friday at 8:30 p.m. against the midget B2 Athabasca team.
On Saturday, the midget B1s will play at the multiplex against Mayerthorpe at 6 p.m.
