The Midget Athabasca Hawks had a quite the home opener to kick off their season on Saturday defeating the Whitecourt Wolverines 12-0.
The Hawks offence was truly dominant throughout the whole game as the outshot their opponents 57-17.
“Its not what we were really expecting, but we didn’t really know what to expect,” said Hawks head coach Ron Bay. “We wanted to started with a forecheck and put pressure on them and it definitely worked. We came out and did what we wanted at the start the game.”
The strong forecheck was too much for the Wolverines and they surrendered the first goal within the first four minutes of the period.
The Hawks kept their foot on the gas, netting five more and by the end of the second period they held a 38-15 advantage on the shot clock.
The Wolverines then began to run out of steam as the Hawks walked all over them scoring six more goals in the third period.
The Hawks’ defence managed to hold all night at they surrendered two shots in the final frame.
“The defence was good. We had them pinching (in there zone) and they were reading the play fine,” said Bay.
“I think a lot of the offence was generated by the defence. We had three or four of the defence score, so getting the offence from there was good. Even though the game was a little lopsided they definitely helped out.”
Although their defence did very well during the game, coach Bay is looking to utilize them even more in the future.
“Originally the kids were trying to do stuff on their own, but as the game progressed, they were starting to work as a team,” he said. “We’ll see if we can do the forechecking hard and early then use the defence. We need to use the players to move the puck around and let the puck do the work. Tonight they were trying to skate it more then we probably should have.”
Bay also wants to work on staying out of the penalty box. The Hawks racked up over 20 minutes worth of penalties and two ejections.
“They weren’t well disciplined at all,” he said.
“We talked to a couple guys on the bench and (told them) what we were expecting. What happens is the emotions start getting carried away (and) you have to try to reign them in.
“A lot of the penalties came from the lopsided score. Once a team is up by that much you get frustrated. I didn’t know what they were doing, but we felt that they were trying to draw some penalties and they did a good job of that.”
The Athabasca Hawks look to continue their success on the road against Edson, a team that, in the past, has always been competitive and tough.
“We think that Edson is probably one of the better teams just based on minor hockey over the years,” said Bay. “We’re expecting a much different opponent, so it’ll be nice to see if the forecheck works again.”
