Friday night was a treat for WarHawks fans with a high scoring game and a win. The game was the first of 2 contests against an out of division team, the Peoria Mustangs. It didn’t take long before Max Jackson (2)(Holtz 5, Amon 4) got the boys on the board with only 3 minutes and 36 seconds into the game. M. Jackson buried a rebound in the slot from a shot from the blue line by Holtz. 20 seconds later, Irion and Woltman had two beautiful forechecks that eventually cause a Mustang player to fumble the puck out to the blue line where Wendorff was ready to pounce. Carson Wendorff (7)(Irion 12, Woltman 11) flung the puck low through traffic and beat the Mustang tendy low on the left side. The boys weren’t done scoring. Late in the first, Elliot Domagal (1)(Wanka 16, Adams 10) scored his first Junior goal by skating unseen towards the backdoor and redirected a centering pass into the back of the net. Hawks went on a power play with only 1:13 seconds left in the period. Zane Irion (13)(Wanka 17, Adams 11) got a zone entry pass from Wanka and shot, beating the Mustang tendy high glove side.
Less than 2 minutes into the 2nd period, Mason Wanka (16)(Hinze 25, Callaghan 16) was standing by himself to the right of the crease and tapped in a loose puck to give the boys a 4 goals lead. The Mustangs were able to sneak one in but it seemed like the game was already out of reach for the away team.
Hawks started the 3rd period on a power play from the previous period. Only 28 seconds into the period, Mason Wanka (17)(Irion 13, Callaghan 17) gets an unreal pass from Irion and puts the puck top shelf beating their goalie high glove side. Reminiscent of Irion’s goal from the 1st period. There was still fight left in the Mustangs and they scored twice in a little over 2 minutes. But it wasn’t enough to beat the home team, the damage had already been done. Kai Girard saw 35 shots, saving 31 with an 88% save percentage.
The arena was filled with kids for Saturday’s game because it was the 3rd annual Youth Hockey Night! The rematch definitely didn’t start the same way as Friday night’s game. The Mustangs had a 3 goal lead in the first period. Scoring all 3 goals on power plays. Not the start anyone wanted who was there rooting for the WarHawks.
Whatever coach said to the boys during the intermission worked because within 15 seconds of the start of the 2nd period, Nathan Hinze (11) (Wendorff 12) scored a backdoor rebound from a wide one timer from Wedorff at the blue line. You could feel the momentum change right when the back netting moved and the train horn went off. The sound was defining from all the youth hockey players’ excitement. They had waited all night for that first goal. Now it’s a game. On almost the exact same play as the previous goal, Schultz passed the puck to Carson Wendorff (8)(Schultz 1) who had a one timer besting their tendy’s 1 hole. A minute and forty seconds later Mason Wanka (18)(Irion 14) gets a pass down by the goal line, skates it towards the right hash mark and shoots scoring high blocker side. 7 minutes left in the period and as the power play ended Montgomery passed to Mason Wanka (19)(Montgomery 10, Irion 15) who was waiting backdoor for an easy tap-in. The script flipped, now the WarHawks capitalized on the power play and got all 4 goals with the man advantage.
3rd period was an intense competition of attrition and unfortunately the Mustangs were able to score to tie it up with 5 minutes left. The boys put on the pressure for an exciting last few minutes and had multiple opportunities to score but without puck luck and a few posts, were unsuccessful. Fans got bonus hockey as the game ended in a tie in regulation. 2 minutes into overtime, the Mustangs were able to capitalize on a rebound and win the game. Fortunately the Hawks got a point which helped them stay in playoff contention. Josh Mack saw 32 shots, saving 27 with an 84% save percentage.
You can see the WarHawks play again this week since the boys are home for 2 games again this weekend. Friday night we take on the Wilderness and Saturday we face off against the Lumberjacks.
