A large contingent of supporters descended on the Barr-head Agrena March 18, hoping to carry the Hawks past the Valley View Ice Bears.
It started almost right from the start. The Ice Bears seemed to find a higher gear, around the 16:00 mark of the first period, and didn’t look back, handing the Hawks a 9-1 loss.
The Ice Bears’ seemingly relentless pressure on the Hawks made it difficult for the local squad to set up a sustained attack. Counter-attacking Ice Bears wingers gave the Hawks’ defence fits all game, using their speed along the outside.
But in the end, the game came down to one thing. Stop the Ice Bears’ captain, Rylee Hebert. The centreman opened the scoring at 11:14 of the first period, then went on to score another eight goals, including the final goal of the game. He single-handedly carried the Ice Bears. However, he did not claim the game-winning goal honour.
“We had an idea that he was probably their leader, and he came in and bit us pretty hard,” said Hawks coach Trevor Steinbring.
Frank Scholten managed to score the only Hawk’s goal, on a loose puck at 11:17 of the second period, only after the hard work around the net by Riley Tiemstra and Adam Flemmer. Both received assists on the play.
The Hawks opened the event slowly against the Tofield Titans. They quickly found themselves down 4-0 after 20 minutes of play. Following three quick goals by the Titans in the second period, the Hawks kept on fighting. The final was 8-4, Titans.
“Our boys did not give up. We outshot them 46-27, and we deserved a better fate,” said Steinbring.
Following the game against the Ice Bears, the Hawks were looking to be the spoiler against the Coaldale Cobras. The Hawks started off better against the Cobras than in earlier games, but they couldn’t create any breaks including hitting goal posts.
The Hawks found themselves down 4-1 after one period. When the second period ended the squad from Barrhead was down 7-3.
The Hawks looked to make a comeback in the final 20 minutes. They scored three times to put some pressure on the Cobras. The Cobras managed to add, then hold on to their lead to win 8-6
“We had nothing to lose, so we gave it our all,” said Steinbring.
