The Midget ëA' Hawks are on a roll - they extended their winning streak to three games on Friday night and topped the Edson Sabres 6-4.
The Midget ëA' Hawks are on a roll - they extended their winning streak to three games on Friday night and topped the Edson Sabres 6-4.
After a few players returned from injury after the holiday break and some Midget ëB' players came out to play, the Hawks boasted a more complete bench than Edson, who only had 11 players. Despite the numbers advantage, the Hawks still weren't playing to their full potential.
ìIt's a nightmare when you look across and see the opponent has come with only two lines, î said head coach Ron Bay. ìYou have this inclination that (by) having three lines, you'll out skate them and they'll get tired. We got the win, but it shouldn't have been close. î
The Hawks made the first score of the night within the first four minutes of the period after a point shot from defenseman Rylan Durell beat the Sabres netminder. The Hawks defense would strike again, only this time taking advantage of their power play opportunity with yet another long shot from Erik Bay. The Sabres, however, out-shot and out-hustled the Hawks through the last 10 minutes. But after a few stops by Hawks' goalie Scott Danyluk, the Hawks managed to exit the period with a 2-0 lead.
ìWe felt that we should have had a couple more, î he said. ìWe had guys feeding the puck out from behind the net and it was always on the wrong hand. They fed the backhand side and they'd try to do a backhand stab at the puck. î
The Hawks weren't so lucky going into the second period. Although the Sabres only had seven shots on goal, they were able to capitalize on two of those chances and tied up the game midway through the period. Though the game was tied 2-2 going into the third period, Bay wasn't pleased with the way his team was performing.
ìWe talked to them in the first intermission and the message in the second intermission was exactly the same. The only difference was it took them another period of not doing it. They didn't want to backcheck and Edson wanted the puck more the first two periods, î said Bay. ìWe were talking to them, saying you need to skate both ways and they did that in the last period. î
The Hawks were back to the level that they should have been playing in the first two periods by the last period of the game. They were much more aggressive on the forecheck and the team was able to get goals from Connor Nikipelo, Hayden Konochuk and two from Derek Greene - making the score 6-3.
The Sabres got their fourth goal on the power play with less than two minutes in the game, but were unable to comeback as the Hawks took the game 6-4.
The Hawks will get a little break before they play three back-to-back games from Jan. 22-24. They'll start the busy weekend with a home game against Lamont.
