The Midget ëAí Athabasca Hawks defeated the Barrhead Steelers in good fashion last Saturday taking the game 4-3.
This is the first time that the Hawks have beaten the top team in their hockey division this regular season.
The Hawks started off the first period strong against the tough Barrhead team. Capitalizing on the Steelers few mistakes, resulted in an early goal from Sean Greene within the first four minutes of the game.
Eight minutes later the Hawks would put another one on the board after a rebound goal from Derek Greene slipped by Steelers goalie, Logan Branden. The Steelers ended up having the last word in the third period, taking advantage of their power play opportunity, making it 2-1 going into the third period.
ìFor us we havenít been ahead (against this team) before,î said Ron Bay head coach of the Hawks. ìItís always good to play with a little momentum and seeing them play with a little adversity, because you donít really know whatís going to happen. To get the second goal made it that much betterî
The Hawks didnít slow down after the first intermission with Shaun Funk netting the teams third goal within the first two minutes of the period. However, the shift of play slowly started to drift into the Steelers favour. The Hawks were unable to get the puck out of their zone when they needed to, resulting in two Steelers goals to close out the second period 3-3.
ìWe told the guys that we need to flip (the puck) out, go high glass or off the boards,î said Bay ìThe puck just has to go out. For one of the goals we had three chances to get it out and it ended up in our net. It doesnít get cleared, then it stays in your end, then youíre running around, then you get tired and it ends up in the back of the net.î
Tied at three the Steelers and the Hawks were battling it out searching for the go ahead goal. Hawks goalie Scott Danyluk made some pretty big saves to keep his team in the game.
ìIn the third period when we needed him to make a save he was there,î said Bay. ìThose guys are hammering the puck. They make one little move with a partial stride and theyíre letting it go, so you have to be ready. They made opportunities, but Scott made the saves.î
At the five minute mark Hawks forward Jager Bruce took a shot from the outside deflecting off the post and into the net giving the Hawks the one goal lead and the eventual game winner.
The Hawks will face off against the Steelers one last time on Friday in Barrhead. Although Bay was happy with the win he knows that the Steelers will be looking to settle the score.
ìWeíre coming back to them and theyíre goning to be ready,î he said. ìSo who knows what could happen?î
