The Athabasca Pee Wee ëAí Hawks took home some gold medals after defeating the Boyle Blazers 4-3 in overtime on Jan. 17, during Boyleís Pee Wee tournament.
The Hawks went undefeated during the three-team tournament, besting the home team twice during the weekend.
After beating the Blazers 10-3 on Saturday, the Hawks were up against a much different team in the final round of the tournament.
ìWe caught them a little sleepy then, but today they were the team that they usually are,î said Hawks head coach Jay Alix. ìThey are a very good hockey team thatís well coached, and they were ready to bring everything they had to the table.î
The Hawks were the first on the board in the opening period after forward Jodacee Cardinal picked up a rebound and backhanded it top shelf, giving the Hawks a one-goal lead. The Hawks offense were generating tons of shots, but they just couldnít get anymore past Blazers goalie Liam Bechthold, as he was able to hold them off at one goal to exit the period 1-0.
Trailing the Hawks by one, the Blazers didnít show any signs of slowing down in the second. Blazers forward Ahmed Assaf managed to scoop up the puck, taking it down the ice for a breakaway opportunity. Assaf beat Athabasca net-minder Matthew Marches, firing the puck just over the left pad to tie up the game. The score was 1-1 going into the third.
The Blazers were shorthanded in the opening minutes of the third period. During the power play, Keenan Ponich took a shot from the blueline and slipped it through the five hole to bring the Hawks to a 2-1 lead. The Hawks kept up the momentum scoring just 40 seconds later, after a backhand shot from Ashton Funk beat Bechtholdís blocker. Down by two in the first four minutes of the game, Boyle coach Dymtro Sawka called a timeout to settle his team down.
ìI just had to explain to them, ëListen itís two goals. Itís not like weíre down by five or six. Youíre still in the game,íî Sawka said. ìI just tried to calm them down, restart and away we go.î
The Blazers took his words to heart. Assaf took a shot from the right face off circle and put it in the back of the net cutting the lead down to one at the halfway point of the period. With less than four minutes to go, Blazer Kade Proctor took a hard shot from the top of the circle, tying up the game 3-3. The end of the period still had the teams neck in neck, which meant four-on-four overtime.
ìIt was interesting; we donít play a lot of four-on-four,î Alix said. ìWe had to make some quick coachís decisions before that.î
Athabascaís coach made the right moves in the end. With only 1:25 left on the clock, Cardinal took a shot from the corner, tipping off of Jacob Haywardís stick and into the net as the Hawks took the game 4-3.
ìMy boys were just thrilled, and this is the kind of push we needed,î said Alix. ìWeíre coming towards the end of our season, and to come out on a high note like this is great for the team.î
Even though it wasnít the result they wanted, Sawka was quite pleased with the way his team performed in the game.
ìWe were a completely different team today then we were yesterday,î he said. ìI think it was good to see them come out and play better then they did yesterday. The most important thing was the way they responded. To come back and tie the game up is a huge positive.
ìIím really proud with the way we played today,î he added. ìI couldnít have asked for a better effort from everybody. All ten players came out and gave it 100 per cent.î
