WarHawks capitalize on the momentum in the 2nd period of Friday night’s game to get the win and almost upset the #1 team in the West.
Friday night was an old school bout against the Wilderness. Fans didn’t get to see a high scoring game they had in the past. Instead, they saw two teams desperately trying to beat eachother out of pure will. Unfortunately, in the first period, the Wilderness were able to score on just their 2nd shot of the game. The potential snow storm we all thought we were going to get that night wasn’t the only thing WarHawks fans were worried about now. The boys were able to get on the board in the first, with a tripping penalty. Not the start anyone wanted.
One thing this division has learned about the WarHawks this season is, definitely don’t sleep on them. The 2nd period proved why. A little over 5 minutes into the period, the Wilderness take an elbowing penalty and the boys go on a power play. There wasn’t a lot of chances to get the puck in the back of the net for the first minute. Then Irion made a wide left one entry by chipping the puck off his own player, skated it towards the net and makes a backhand pass to a crashing Mason Wanka (19)(Irion 16, Vaculik 10). Wanka beats their tendy high blocker side to tie the game up. Someone from the Wilderness should’ve watched more game tape on Wanka because no more than 5 minutes later, the Velvet Tiger strikes again. Vaculik brought the puck into the zone wide right, beating the left defenseman and getting a shot on net. Callaghan came in to try and clean up the garbage, making the puck bounce into the slot where Mason Wanka (20)(Callaghan 18, Vaculik 11) was ready to pounce. Which turned out to be the game winning goal.
3rd period wasn’t without drama. The Wilderness pulled their goalie with 1:47 left in the game for an extra attacker. They had 6 shots on net in the 30 seconds in a fiery attempt at tying the game up. How Girard was able to see, let alone save some of those shots is still confusing. After letting the second shot of the game go in, Girard shut it down for the remainder of the game. Kai Girard saw 30 shots, saving 29 with a 97% save percentage.
Saturday night against the Lumberjacks was a whole different game than Fridays’. If you’re a fan of the WarHawks, you know that playing the Jacks always feels personal. You never really know what will happen.
Just 1:35 into the game, the Jacks scored on a power play. Uh oh, not good. Not to be outdone by the Hawks, the Jacks wanted to get a penalty in the first period and we really appreciated it. Ten minutes into the first, a Jacks player took a trip to our lovely Island View Resort on Nest Lake penalty box to sit and think about the slash he delivered. Thirty seconds went by in the power play when Wendorff brought the puck into the zone and made a cross ice pass to Callaghan. Calli lost possession for a second and regained it down low in the left corner. Aidan Callaghan (20)(Wendorff 13, Hinze 26) brought the puck up the left circle by the boards and then turned towards the slot. He shot low blocker side, besting the Jacks tendy to tie it up. Five minutes later, Wanka came into the zone and gave Domagala a backhand pass who shot the puck at the top of the left circle. Gabriel Adams (15)(Wanka 19, Domagala 1) scored out in front of the crease, besting the Jacks tendy right above his left leg pad. Short lived lead as the Jacks scored 2 more goals before the period was over.
Second period felt like we had completely lost the momentum when the Jacks scored a third unanswered goal, giving them a two goal lead. That is until a Jacks player gave us the gift of a hook and the boys went on a power play late in the period. As the power play was in the last 10 seconds, Wanka threw the puck at the net with a backhand pass in a desperate attempt to capitalize on something for the power play. Good thing he did because Keegan Montgomery (4)(Wanka 20, Irion 17) had an easy tap in to give the Hawks some hope. Closing the gap to 1 goal.
Third period, down by one to the number one team in the West division. Time for a gut check. You’d think that the hopes of the Hawks would’ve been dashed when the Jacks scored halfway through the last period but they weren’t done fighting. Once again, the Jacks gave the boys yet another present in the form of a cross check. The face off immediately after giving themselves another two goal lead, Jacks center decided to cross check Hinze, sending their center to go sit in the box. Timothy Vaculik (4)(Wanka 21, Irion 18) said thank you by shooting hard and low from the blue line, scoring to put the boys within one again. In a desperate attempt to tie the game up late in the third, the Hawks pulled their goalie. Numerous chances were had and almost went in. Unfortunately, the Jacks got themselves an empty netter with 44 seconds left. A Jacks fan was heard saying “great game, that was way closer than we wanted!” to a WarHawks player after the game. Great game indeed. Kai Girard saw an astonishing 51 shots, saving 45 with a 90% save percentage.
