What. A. Weekend! The boys took on the #5 in the league Blizzard and the Wilderness. Sweeping both in their back to back home games Friday and Saturday night. Friday felt even more special than the come from behind victory because the boys did it in front of a huge crowd on WIG’s Youth Hockey Night. Imagine being one of the hundreds of kids that got to see their home town team beat the #5 team in the league especially after being down 3 goals.
Friday was WIG’s Youth Hockey Night, one of our favorite nights of the season. Every season, we invite youth hockey players from the three local associations to play during intermission and showcase their skills in front of a bigger crowd. You never know, we could’ve seen some future WarHawks on the ice that night. That night, the boys were down 3-5 going into the 3rd and you could tell that the very large crowd wasn’t as energetic as it was the first 2 periods. Some heads were down and the mood wasn’t ideal. The reason this night is so special to us every season is we are reminded of the feeling of hope. If you were there and took the time to look at the kids in the stands, they still believed. Every kid was on their feet, faces pressed against the glass when the boys took to the ice. Not a single kid looked at the scoreboard and thought the boys wearing a WarHawk on their chest couldn’t win. And win they did!
1st period started and less than 7 minutes in, the boys scored. You should’ve heard the cheers. Garvey chips the puck high off the glass from the defensive zone and hits Mees in stride to make a 2v1 zone entry. As he entered the zone, Mees found Max Jackson skating through the slot. Max shoots, leg pad save, gets his own rebound and goal. A few minutes later they answer back. At the very end of the period, the boys go on a power play. Puck gets thrown into the offensive zone and Thelen gets possession on the near half wall. He passes to the blue line where Mees is waiting, who shoots hard and bounces off a shin pad and bounces out to the high slot. Gabe Adams comes off the bench, skating hard into the zone. Adams grabs the rebound with his backhand by the top of the far side circle, brings the puck forehand and beats the Blizzard tendy 2 hole. 2-1 good guys going into the 2nd.
2nd period was all Blizzard. They scored 4 goals and it definitely felt like the end for the WarHawks that game. But just like the little kids in the crowd, Carson Wendorff gave us hope. Almost like we copied and pasted the goal from the 1st period, the WarHawks scored with a little over a minute left. The Blizzard enter their offensive zone and bring the puck behind the ending up by the near side half wall. Blizzard player tries to make a centering pass off his back hand but Wendorff intercepts it. Like he was shot out of a cannon, Wendorff skates past 3 Blizzard players through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. Wendorff gets to the hash marks and shoots high glove side to get the boys within 2 to end the period.
The boys flipped the script and the 3rd period was all WarHawks. Dylan Mees brought the puck into the zone within the first 2 minutes of the period and shoots high blocker. Puck bounces out to near circle where Thelen shoots which is deflected behind the net and bounces out to the goal line. Mees grabs the puck and as he’s spinning around, he shoots an amazing shot fitting in a tiny window that beats the Blizzard tendy glove side. About 4 minutes later the boys go on a 5 minute power play and get a penalty almost immediately after it started. We have 4v4 hockey for the next 2 minutes. After a faceoff in our defensive zone, the puck is thrown down the ice which looked like it was going to be an icing but the Blizzard goalie played it and threw the puck up the near side wall where Timothy Vaculik was waiting. Vaculik brings the puck up and cuts to the middle by the top of the circle. Stensrud was screening in front of the net as Vaculik shoots low 4 hole and scores. We have a tied game! With a little over 5 minutes left in the game, Owen Amon brings the puck into the zone, shoots and is deflected to the far side hash marks. K. Jackson gains possession and backhands it to Amon in the far corner. With a player draped over him, Amon, with one arm on his stick passes to a crashing K. Jackson. The bouncing puck ends up in K. Jackson’s breezers, falls out almost immediately and a Blizzard player shoots it in for one of the craziest goals the fans had ever seen. If you thought that was the end of the game, you definitely weren’t there. The Blizzard, down by 1, pull their goalie with 57 seconds left and a faceoff in the WarHawks defensive zone. For 30 seconds the crowd was going insane and you could feel the tension in the arena. The WarHawks get a penalty with only 22 seconds left in a potentially huge upset game. Arguably the longest 22 seconds of this entire season. Shot after shot, opportunity after opportunity but the boys did it. They just beat the #5 team in the entire league!
Sam Moen saw 55 shots, saving 50 with a 91% save percentage.
Saturday night, the Minnesota Wilderness came to town. You could tell the boys were still high on last night’s win. There was a buzz in the locker room and the coaching staff were very confident. You never know what you’ll get after a hard fought battle coming back from a deficit especially after playing a hard hitting team like the Blizzard. Someone didn’t tell the WarHawks that they just gave it their all last night because the ice was tilted in the WarHawks favor all night.
It didn’t take long for the home crowd to cheer for the good guys. A little over 5 minutes into the 1st period, there was a corner battle in the offensive zone with K. Jackson and Thelen trying to gain possession over the Wilderness players. K. Jackson digs it out, makes a move and shoots hitting the goalie and bounces right to Hayden Stensrud’s stick who was skating in from the blue line. 1 rip good guys. The rest of the period was lopsided in the WarHawks favor but no goals. The boys out shot the Wilderness 18 to 10.
The real treat for fans came in the 2nd. The WarHawks score 3 unanswered goals. Less than a minute into the 2nd period, Mees and Thelen come into the offensive zone and have a beautiful forecheck, stealing the puck. Thelen brings the puck to the far side circle and feeds a crashing Elliot Domagala who shoots from the hash marks and scores. 6 minutes later there was a battle in the neutral zone for the puck and it bounces out to center ice where Max Jackson picks it up and skates down the slot. He fires the pucks hitting the goalie’s chest and bounces to his right. M. Jackson gets his own rebound and scores over the tendy’s glove. With about 6 minutes left in the 2nd, the boys go on a power play. The boys play catch for 12 seconds and move the puck around the offensive zone. Vaculik passes the puck, from the blue line, down to the near side corner where Gabe Adams was waiting. Gabe skates in with a few strides and somehow scores short side. That ended up being the last goal of the night and the boys sweep the weekend with two huge wins.
Sam Moen 30 shots, saving all of them for his 2nd shut out of the season!
The WarHawks are on the road Friday but are back on home ice February 7th to take on the Lumberjacks! Multiple different ticket options here:
