Friday night the boys made the long trip south to take on the Mason City Toros. This was the first of many games against the Iowa team. The WarHawks got in the win column for their first victory of the season. The Toros came into the game as a 3-1 team and the Hawks were 0-2, but not for long.
First period was to be expected with two very good teams battling to try and gain an edge on the other. Goalies kept the score 0-0 after one period of play both seeing a similar amount of shots (13-15). The Hawks went on the power play four times and although there were chances, couldn’t sneak one by Torkelson. The Toros had two man advantages but Moen made sure the ice wasn’t tilted in their advantage stopping every attempt to put the puck in the net.
Two minutes into the 2nd period, the boys made a clean break out and Brown hit M. Jackson in the neutral zone who made a zone entry. Brown catches a pass and throws the puck on net, M. Jackson gets the rebound behind the net and gets it out to Kaiden Jackson (2)(M. Jackson 3, M. Brown 1) puts it top shelf with his backhand to get the boys on the board first. One rip good guys. No more than 14 seconds after the goal, the Toros threw the puck on net from the neutral zone where Moen covered. A Toro forward sprayed Moen which Captain Toby Holtz took exception to. Giving the fans our first WarHawks tilt. Touch the goalie, gotta answer the bell. With five and half minutes left in the period, Wanka brings the puck into the offensive zone for a 3 on 1. Wanka passed the puck to Amon who shoots and Max Jackson (3)(Wanka 1, Adams 1) had a tap in goal to make it 2 rip. WarHawks go on a power play a little over a minute later. Almost 2 minutes go by until Wendorff gets the puck off a faceoff win on the far right blue line. Wendorff passes to Brown by the half wall. Aidan Callaghan (1)(Brown 2, Wendorff 1) starts off high in the slot, slowly creeping down to the opposite face off dot. Brown sees this and sends a hard pass where Callaghan one times it beating the Toros tendy, which ended up being the game winning goal. If you thought the scoring was over, you’d be mistaken. E. Domagala has a great forecheck that forced the puck to the halfwall where Mason Wanka (1)(E. Domagala 1) was there, making the Toros put the puck back down below the goal line. E. Domagala steals the puck shooting backhand hitting the goalies leg pad and Wanka was there to tap it in. 4-0 WarHawks to end the 2nd.
Talking to Head Coach Payton Ruter after the game, he told the team that the Toros are going to come out hot and to be ready. Come out hot the did, scoring in 38 seconds from puck drop. They scored one more time, 2 and a half minutes into the 3rd on a break away. Not to worry WarHawks fans, Sam Moen shut it down for the remainder of the period. Moen saw 48 shots, saving 46, with a 96% save percentage. He also got his first Junior point on Woods empty netter at the end of the period. Logan Woods(1)(Callaghan 1, Moen 1) scored his first WarHawks goal with 6 seconds left.
The WarHawks first home home game is this Friday, October 3rd against the Alexandria Blizzard. Get your tickets here:
