Dec 08, 2015 | Joanne Hum | 1097 views
The Quinte West Midget Hawks Turn Silver into Gold
Our hometown Hawks travelled to Midland On November 27th to compete in a
3 day battle for The Bob Merkley Silver Stick set in beautiful Midland,
Ontario.
GAME ONE
The Hawks played their first game against an undefeated Dorchester
Dragons. Dawson Whyte provided an energetic hat trick with assists from Miller,
Shiel and Love, Captain Hogan netted one as well with help from Woodie. It was
a good look at what we were to expect in a 4 team, 3 group round robin play for
points. The Hawks extinguished The Dragons in fine form as “ The King” purified
the win with a game 1 tournament shutout. All hail the King!
Hawks 4 vs Dragons 0
2 Points
GAME TWO
A beautiful crisp and sunny Saturday afternoon outside the Midland Arena found the Hawks taking on an amped up bunch of Northerners from South Muskoka. And for the first time this hockey season The Hawks found themselves in an unusual predicament, a well executed system known as “the trap”. And well one of the best goaltending performances witnessed all weekend by the young goaltender from South Muskoka. The Hawks came up short and when the buzzer sounded we knew the loss wasn't for lack of effort or talent. The Hawks peppered the Bears net minder yet to no avail. A classy bunch our boys, our Hawks. The Dark Knight made some good saves and would have most definitely wanted those 2 goals back. Hawks accepted the loss, left it at the rink and began to prepare for the next battle. Hawks 1 vs Bears 2 oops no Points
GAME THREE
Midlands’ cold northern air was noticeable as we entered back into the arena where the Hawks were set to lay it on the line. Tonights competitors were The Elmira Sugar Kings. We must win for a chance to move on to the semi’s. Collingwood had to win their game so we could meet each other in the Semi Final. Hawks came out ready to battle and lit it up. Both the score board and the Sugar Kings goalie were glowing red at the end of the 1st period. Goals from Hogan just 20 seconds in , top shelf glove side. Hamilton at 4:26, Hogan again 16 seconds later then Devin Sills with a beautiful dangle, dangle, deke at 41.2 seconds. The Sugar Kings fought back while the Hawks kept The Sugar Kings from being crowned. Our boys finished with a 4-1 win complemented by a solid performance by our “King” between the pipes. Hawks 4 vs Sugar Kings 1
GAME FOUR
Well, here we are the hockey Gods brought Collingwood and Quinte West together with the winner moving on to the Finals. A great semi final game of action, penalties, end to end action. Collingwood had set a Silver Stick record for not allowing any goals against during regular game play. That was until our boys wreaked havoc on that statistic. Dawson Whyte hit the back of the mesh near the end of the 1st. Then at the 13:45 mark of the 2nd Collingwood tied it up. Hogan on a pass from Andrew White wouldn’t let the game stay even for long and found the back of the net almost 3 minutes later. 2-1 Hawks. From there on back and forth, shots, saves both sides leaving everything on the ice. In the dying seconds of the game Collingwood fought hard yet The Hawks could taste victory and a shot for the title and with that came the nail in the coffin. Hogan scores an empty net goal to finish the drive to the finals. The Dark Knight battled strong. Hawks 3 vs Blackhawks 1
SILVER STICK CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Unbelievable the path our Hawks took and chose to find themselves contenders in the Championship game versus Hespeler Shamrocks. Upon entering the Silver Stick Tournament The Hespeler Shamrocks were ranked #2 and the Quinte West Hawks #3. Truly a real championship game was about to unfold. .Hawks opened the scoring on a breakaway feed from Jake Love to Devin Sills low glove side…..what a beauty! Shamrocks answered shortly after with a beautiful goal of their own. Jake Love gave the Hawks the lead again on a beautiful breakaway feed that bounced onto his stick from a Hespeler player. You gotta like those Hespeler kids helping us out a bit. Great sports they are from Hespeler. After a very bizarre lack of officiating, Hepseler tied up the game while one of our own Hawks was injured down on the ice, behind our own net. the officials chose NOT to blow the play down. Hespeler scored while our man was behind our own net injured. The call and goal stood. It was a 2-2 game heading into the third. The 3rd was entertaining. Each player battling for a chance to be the victor. 3rd period ends and we are off to sudden death overtime. There were some great hockey moments in the first overtime and well even the second overtime. It was coming down to matter of who would make the first mistake due to exhaustion. When one of our Hawks sent Dawson Whyte on a breakaway in the 3rd period he was in the clear and hauled down from behind. Some wanted a penalty shot but the referee wasn’t about to let this 6 period game be decided by a penalty shot. The ref, well he knew he owed us one after the call on the man down and allowed goal earlier in the second period. As the Hawks line up Hums wrists one from the point the goalie smothers it. But on the ensuing play, The face-off was won and with a feed back to Mason Hum on the point from Jaydon Hamilton, the puck found the back of the net at 9:20 of the 3rd sudden death overtime period. HAWKs Win!!!!!! The Hawks turned the Silver Stick into Gold as they won the championship game in Midget Hawk fashion. Mason Hum was chosen MVP of the game and rightfully so.
The Hawks will make their way to the International Silver Stick January 15th - 17th. What a Beauty ! We are so very proud of our boys and Coaching Staff. Thanks for a great weekend!