The Athabasca Hawks completed their first round of their 1660 Hockey League playoffs after besting the Jasper Bearcats in a nail-biting shootout on Feb. 27 in Athabasca.
The Hawks won the game 5-2, but after falling to Jasper 5-3 the night before the Hawks needed at least three points to win the two-game series ñ a challenge head coach Ron Bay knew his team accomplish.
ìAfter being down 5-0 in the first period of that game we said to the guys, ëOkay you have five periods to make up for five goals. Thereís no panic ñ go out and play your game. Every period you need one more then them.í The math was simple,î Bay said.
The Hawks were off to a good start snagging a 2-1 lead after the first period. But the Bearcats answered back early in the second, scoring on their sixth shot of the game to tie it up 2-2. The Hawks had some difficulty against Jaspers net minder during the period. Despite outshooting their opponents 31-14, they just couldnít seem to get the puck over the line. They exited the second period with a score of 2-2.
Needing at least two goals to stay alive, the Hawks were able to lift a bit of the pressure after a wrist shot from the top of the circle from Adam Calliou to brought the Hawks within one. Up 3-2 on the scoreboard, the team was down 7-6 on the point sheet. With 54 seconds remaining, Hawks forward Shaun Funk managed to tie up the series and keep their playoff hopes alive.
After five minutes of overtime solving nothing, the series was going to be decided in a best-of-three shootout.
ìItís sudden death for five (minutes) and then you need to come up with a shootout (line up),î Bay said. ìWe never do shootouts, so itís like are you picking based on practice, this game, what do you do? Youíre just trying to figure out who to send out there.î
After Hawks goalie Scott Danyluk, made the first big save of the shootout, Jackson Roth followed up getting the first goal after beating Jasper goalie blocker side. Up 1-0 after the first round, the Bearcats answered quickly in the second round to tie it 1-1. Going into round five Hawks forward Derek Greene slipped it five-hole to complete the comeback and to take the first round of playoffs.
The next gameís date and time is yet to be decided.
