This past week, the WarHawks took on the number one, two and three teams in the West Division. No easy task for any team. If you look at the scores, they’re with every single one. In fact, they absolutely destroyed one and came within one or two with the others. Wednesday, the boys had a great two periods against the number one Lumberjacks but lost the game 3-5 in the first few minutes of the third, even though they made a valiant attempt at a comeback late in the same period. Friday, to the home crowd’s glee, the boys obliterated the number three Blizzard 7-0. And then on a rare Sunday game, lost a tightly contested game against the number two Moose in the last few minutes of regulation. Yes, they only gained two points but if you watched the two losses, the boys could’ve easily won.
It’s never fun to lose and to make matters worse, lose by only one or two almost every loss all season. When you can literally see the finish line, only to have it taken away in the last few minutes is one of the hardest things to get over in sports. In a season like this, where your losses are within a goal or two from winning, the wins feel almost better than ever.
Friday night the Alexandria Blizzard came to the Civic Center to take on the boys. The coaching staff, players and WarHawks game day staff had no idea what to expect. It’s the day after Thanksgiving, are fans going to show up? Are the boys ready to take on the very dangerous number three team in the West? Turns out, the fans showed up in droves and the boys were definitely ready to take on the team that has beaten them more than they’ve lost. Case and point, it didn’t take long for the boys to get on the board.
A minute into the game, the Blizzard clear the puck into the neutral zone where Dylan Mees passes it to Stensrud. Stensrud makes a zone entry on the far side boards and immediately passes the puck back to Dylan who shoots and beats the opposing tendy glove side. One shot, one goal. An early lead against the Blizzard is not something to take lightly as it hasn’t really happened this season. That has to be luck and they’ll get one soon right? Nope, far from it. Three minutes and three seconds later, Brown gets a breakout pass in the defensive zone and feeds it to Aidan Callaghan who brings it into the offensive zone by the near side boards. With a fancy toe drag, he cuts towards the slot and puts the puck on the net. Somehow, the puck sneaks through. Four shots, two goals. A few minutes later, the boys go on a penalty kill. The Blizzard make a long stretch pass from deep in their defensive zone to a forward in the neutral zone, who fumbles the puck. Carson Wendorff gains possession on the blue line and throws it back into the Blizzard’s defensive zone. Nothing special about that right? Happens every penalty kill that you’ve seen since squirts. Well, this time the goalie went to play it with his stick and it ends up in the back of the net. Eight shots, three goals. This has to be a flook, when is the other shoe going to fall right? It doesn’t. Four minutes drain from the clock, Aidan Callaghan brings the puck into the offensive zone towards the slot and passes to Brown who shoots. On the rebound, Callaghan hits a bouncing puck with his stick that takes a crazy flight path high in the air that goes over the goalies head and into the back of the net. Nine shots, four goals. With less than five minutes left in the incredible first period, Gabe Adams has a beautiful forecheck in the neutral zone and strips the puck from a Blizzard defenseman. Splitting the D, Adams gets hooked multiple times as he attempts to shoot, giving him a penalty shot. Adams takes the puck from center ice into the zone by the far side boards. He comes into the zone slowly, pulling the goaltender farther and farther to that post, as he gets closer he speeds up and then shoots glove side hitting the top of the netting. Fourteen shots, five goals.
Wendorff gets one in the second period and Logan Woods scores in the 3rd period as well. 7-0 is the final score and Jacob Brumm gets his first Junior shut out. Ironically enough, the Blizzard who just got humiliated by the WarHawks, played the next day against the number two Moose and beat them 5-2. The WarHawks are about to play the Moose. You never know what you’ll get in hockey. Brumm saw 37 shots, saving 37, with a 100% save percentage.
On an unusual Sunday afternoon game, the boys head to Blain to take on the Moose who are currently in 2nd place in the West division. Unlike last season, the Moose started off good and have gotten better. The boys have their hands full. The Moose score two goals in less than a minute in the first but Aiden Hogan was able to get them within one before the end of the period. Back and forth it went from there with Gabe adams tying it up and then the Moose take the lead again. Mikko Brown tied it back up and unfortunately, like most games this season, the Moose score with less than three minutes left in the game. Jacob Brum saw 39 shots, saving 34, with a 90% save percentage.
The WarHawks are back on home ice Friday and Saturday, Dec 5th and 6th to take on the the Lumberjacks and the Toros! Multiple different ticket options here:
