Sep 12-13/15 - Exhibition Home and Home Games with Shaftesbury

 

Sep 12/15 - The Hawks travelled to Winnipeg to take on the Shaftesbury Titans at the Jonathan Toews Community Centre. These two exhibition friendly matches saw the two teams without some of their top players, with two Hawks and four Titans at a Team Manitoba U18 function. This would give the Hawks coaches a chance to see some of his players who were fighting for a spot on the team, in a real game situation. Some of the girls were facing off against a former Hawk, Brooklyn Platt, who moved to Winnipeg to suit up with Shaftesbury. Once the game started however, it was all business. The game started off with the Titans pressing hard, showing that they had been playing together and more regularly than the Hawks had. Despite this pressure, Taylor played rock steady and her defense held up in front of her. There were some untimely turnovers but nothing costly until the third period when a pass was intercepted in the Hawks zone and the Titan forward skated in uncontested and managed to score over Taylors blocker. The Hawks were able to muster some offense, but there some miscues as many of the girls were playing with unfamiliar teammates. The game was an entertaining back and forth affair, but ended in a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the home team.

 

Running with four offensive lines, Coach Dana was able to evaluate what each of the girls were capable of and who they might click with.

 

Sep 13/15 - It was Pembina Valley's turn to host as the two teams travelled to Pilot Mound to square off. This would be the last chance for some of the Hawks hopefuls to impress the coaching staff and prove they belonged in the Hawks uniform this year. Unfortunately the game was marked with turnovers and the offense would remain quiet for the second consecutive day. Halle played great in net for the Hawks, turning aside all but two of the shots she faced. Again, the regular playing time and cohesion of the Shaftesbury squad showed, and the speed of the game favoured the visitors. This would lead to some very tough decisions for the coaching staff as after the game ended, the coaches trimmed the list of girls to the final roster.  

 

Caps Pre-Season Tournament - Sep 25-27/15

 

Game 1 saw the Hawks take on the Yellowhead Chiefs in the Central Plains Capitals Pre-Season tournament. Knowing that they would be up against a defensively stifling team, the girls were hoping to get the season off to a great start, pushing the play offensively. Having played two games without scoring a goal, the focus would be to create traffic in front the Chiefs' net, trying to create any opportunity. To start the game though, it would be Hawks would be on the defensive, trying to clear the zone unsuccessfully on many occasions. The Chiefs showed that they had played a few more games together this season than the Hawks, as they cycled the puck and found the rhythm that eluded the Hawks early on. Halle Oswald played very well in net though, thwarting any attack that their opponents threw at her. The defense also worked well together, collapsing on the puck when they needed to, keeping the puck away from the dangerous areas. Halfway through the first the tide started changing and it would be the Hawks who would start controlling the play. Even though the shots after a scoreless first would strongly favour the visting Chiefs (9-3), the momentum had clearly shifted in the Hawks favour. The second period saw Pembina Valley come out with much more confidence and vigor. The girls passes started to find the tape and they controlled a good portion of the play. The score remained tied at zero after 40 minutes of play, but the Hawks had reason to be optimistic, outshooting the Chiefs 10-7. The goaltending was strong, the defense were able to move the puck up, and the forwards started showing signs of getting comfortable with each other. There were five penalties called in the second frame, with the Hawks having to serve three of those. At the 15:04 mark of the third, a defensive breakdown behind the Hawks' goal line allowed an unchecked forward from the Yellowhead squad to pick up the loose puck and walk in uncontested, beating Halle, putting the Chiefs up. Not willing to go down without a fight, the Hawks went right to work pushing Yellowhead back on their heels. This pressure was rewarded at 10:06, when Brooklyn fed the puck back to the point where Kenzie corralled the puck and wristed it at the net, past the netminder's glove. Knotted up at one, there would be half a period left to try and settle this game, but a couple of penalties later in the game would prove to take some of the momentum out of Pembina Valley's sails. With time winding down, a Chief forward picked up the puck deep in her own end and set her sights on the far end of the rink. Dekeing through a few girls, she wound her way through neutral and attacking zone chipping the puck to Halle's blocker side, and fluttered just over her pad, making it a 2-1 game. Unfortunately the girls couldn't find that equalizing goal, and as the clock ran out, a disappointed crew skated to the dressing room, knowing there would be some positives and some things to work on. Overall Coach Dana was pleased with the progress the girls showed from the beginning of the game to the end. Game two goes tomorrow morning at 10:30 at the PCU centre.

 

Game 2 started at 10:15 Saturday morning with the lady Hawks squaring off against an unfamiliar foe in Swift Current. The Saskatchewan squad wanted to prove a point early and came out of the gate firing on all cylinders. This early pressure kept the Hawks hemmed in their own defensive zone for a good portion of the first half of the first period. The girls would eventually find out on their own that sometimes the best defensive is a good offense. They started moving the puck around and found that getting the puck deep allowed them to dictate the pace of the game and the result was a substantially better effort than the beginning of the period. With just over 11 minutes left in the first, the Swift Current team capitalized on a poorly timed icing, keeping the tired line on the ice. Swift won the ensuing draw sliding the puck back to the blue line, where the defenseman blindly threw the puck on net. The puck deflected twice enroute to the net and Taylor had no chance on the second deflection. Although the scoreboard favored the opposition, the momentum definitely favored the Hawks. Shots in the first period were 10-4 Hawks. The second period saw the Hawks come out with a purpose. Perhaps the presence of new assinstant coach Al Couling helped, but regardless, the girls pressured their opposition often and good things were bound to happen. Eleven minutes and twenty two seconds into the second stanza the Hawks would finally solve the Swift netminder when Jenai took the puck at the point and unleashed a laser of a wrist shot that got caught up in the Swift Current Wildcat defernder's jersey. When the puck dropped to the ice, Sage played Johnny-on-the-spot and swept the loose puck through the Wildcat goalie and into the back of the net, potting her first goal of the season. Despite continued pressure, the Hawks couldn't tally that second marker. By the end Lowe Farm the frame, the Hawks would dominate the shots on goal stat by a 16-7 margin. The Pembina Valley faithful were starting to wonder if the struggles to score would continue. Chloe would prove that we could score goals when she noticed her linemates on a change and skated the puck into the attacking zone and after collecting a loose puck that was blocked on her first attempt, she fired again, beating the Swift tender high glove side. That would be all the scoring the Hawks would need in this one, even having to kill off a late third period penalty. Taylor played very well, stopping all but one of the 18 shots directed at her. Final shots on net were 41-18 for Pembina Valley. A good solid win for the girls, even though they only managed to score twice, they dominated the play for most of the game. Game 3 goes this evening at 5:15. 

 

Gsme 3 pitted the lady Hawks against an old rival, the Westman Wildcats. Knowing that this would be another quality match up against a league powerhouse, many in attendance were looking forward to see our our girls would stack up. With this being an exhibition game, the coaches moved around some lines to see who would have some more immediate chemistry. The Hawks, true to form of late, came out of the gate a little sluggish again. Westman applied early pressure, but the Hawks wouldn't break. As quickly as Westman came out, Pembina Valley turned the tables. They started aggressively forechecking and that strong play lead to an early payoff. 5:12 into the first, it would be Chelsea, who read the defense perfectly, slipped up the middle, called for the lead pass from Sage, and was sprung on a breakaway. She made not mistake as she rifled the shot high and over the Westman netminder's glove. Less than 10 minutes later it would be Sage who would be the benefactor of some great forechecking by Alyssa below the face off dot to the Wildcat goalie's left. Alyssa got the Westman defender to cough up the puck and Sage, standing just above the face off dot, corralled the puck on her stick and without hesitation sniped a wrist shot high glove side giving the Hawks a 2 goal cushion. That would be all the scoring in the first and when the dust settled on the first period, the Hawks had managed a 14-5 shot differential. Playing with the lead would prove to be a little more difficult in the second as Westman had no intentions of handing the game over to Pembina Valley. The Wildcats came out Lessing in the second and 11 minutes in, we're rewarded with their first marker of the game. Looking to bounce back from that goal, the Hawks would restore that two goal lead when Brooklyn found an open Megan at the blue line. Meg pulled the puck in and put everything she had into the wrister that managed to escape the traffic in front of the net and bulge the twine, for her first goal of the season. Both teams would skate off the ice to end the second with the Hawks still leading by two. The third period would prove to be the undoing for the Hawks as they came out flat, not finding the jump they showed in the first two frames. The Wildcats on the other hand, came out true to their namesake. Their top line skated circles around many of the Hawks and it would take less than four minutes for them to score their second goal of the game. There would be no response from the Hawks. The speed of the Westman forwards would be too much and with just over three minutes left in the game, the Hawks would give up the tying goal, much to the dismay of the Hawks faithful. The game would end in a 3-3 tie, in a game that sure felt like a loss, after giving up two 2 goal leads. Game 4, the final game, starts Sunday morning at 9:15. 

 

Saturday morning, bright and early, the girls showed up at the rink to finish off the Caps tournament, ready to make a statement against the Battleford Sharks from Saskatchewan, and carry some momentum forward to the start of the regular season games the following weekend. Right from the start, the Hawks would carry the momentum, dominating every aspect of the game. The passes were crisp and on the tape, the defense carried the puck deep into the attacking zone almost at will and many quality shots were directed at the Sharks net. Unfortunately none of the 19 shots would go in, and by the time the horn sounded to end the first, the shots were 19-3, but the game remained scoreless. The second period would start out the same, with the Hawks completely taking it to the Battleford team, but the puck just would not go in. Brooklyn Major had two shots ring off the iron, in one shift alone, but between the goaltender and the posts, our shots just wouldn't find the back of the net. Moments after Brooklyn's great shift, the puck entered the Hawks zone, and on a defensive miscue, a Shark forward managed to walk in from the corner, completely unobstructed, and flick a week backhand off of Taylor's right pad and through the five hole, giving the home team an one goal lead. The Hawks would respond though, when Katie picked up the puck in front of Taylor and found Mackenzie MacCallum in full stride going up the ice. As Mackenzie saw the Shark defenseman blow a tire at Shark blue line, she turned on the jets, walked in alone and slid the puck five hole, knotting the score at one, with 5:23 left in the second. In the third period, on the very first shift, a breakdown to the right of Taylor, found two Sharks forwards with a loose puck, and as the one spun around and shot on net, the puck squirted past Taylor, who seemed to have all the angles covered, giving the home team the one goal advantage. The rest of the period would be pretty much the same as the game had gone, a few posts, the Hawks desperately outshooting their competition, but being snakebitten at every turn. A stunned crowd could only stand to watch as the clock wound down and the horn sounded to end what would be a stunner of a game. The Sharks celebrated the victory, despite being outshot 50-10 in the game. A dejected Pembina Valley squad headed for the dressing room to contemplate what could have been, and try to figure out how to capitalize on the chances that they generated. 

 

The girls will have two practices this week to prepare for the defending champion Central Plains Capitals, who will pay a visit to Morden on Friday, Oct 30th. Game time is 7:45.