Thursday March 5, 2020
Final: 5-4 Hawks
Last night’s game was not for the feint of heart. Of late we have been showing the rest of the league, particularly the top teams, that we are not going away any time soon.
Our start was not in keeping with that doctrine and we found ourselves down 3-0 midway through the first. St. Vital looked fast and poised and that sinking feeling was ruminating around the assembled faithful. However, the Hawks of the past two months have played with a distinct purpose and have remained unfazed by such oppression.
With under a minute to play in the first, Robinson’s and Opperman’s speed and tenacity saw them dig a puck free behind St. Vital’s net and Opps slid it out front to a swooping Lawrence who smacked it home to put us on the board before the first ended. A glimmer of hope and a ray of light existed.
Period two was all ours. Ferbers was a man possessed and continually made strong forays from our end with the puck, moving it quickly and confidently up the ice. Our dogged forechecking and puck battles saw us get numerous chances around the Victorias’ net. Hansell and Ferbers fed Hruska at the blue line and he made a quick deke then wristed a rocket into the net from the top of the slot. Less than a minute later we had a power play and Petras and Ferbers played the up-high umbrella perfectly and fed Hansell who wristed his own rocket in for the PP goal. The period ended 3-3 and we were brimming with confidence.
Period three saw Robinson continue our assault a minute and a half in as he deflected a shot from Maxwell over the goalie’s blocker after some stellar work on the boards by Smith freed the puck to the waiting Maxwell, 4-3.
Opperman continued his speedy, chance-making night and he converted a strong feed from Seremet to score the eventual game winner which put us up 5-3 at the time. St. Vital looked perplexed and a bit ruffled but they did make a press down the stretch, sneaking one more in with under four to play. Then, in the dying seconds with their net empty, they had two dynamite chances but Wiens was up to the task and we deserved our 5-4 victory.
Roffey played a solid game on the back line and pasted a bunch of Victorias to the boards. Wicha and Fisher continued their check-finishing and left a bunch of Victorias gasping for air.
We’re firing on all cylinders and have given notice to the entire league that we are back with a vengeance. We never say die and support each other totally.
50th anniversary celebration tonight at the Coy sees us take on the Canucks. We are battling for 7th place and trying to oust the Twins from that slot for the playoffs. The first place Twisters are probably hoping we do move up to 7th as we are a wrecking crew of late.
Solid Hawks’ play is infectious!
– Fishmum