Athabasca’s Pee Wee ‘A’ Hawks beat the Hinton Havoc by a landslide in a home game on Saturday, Jan. 6.
The final score being 7-3, the Hawks fit six of their goals into the first two periods, and head coach Jay Alix said he was “thrilled to bits” with the game outcome.
“This was excellent, being our first game out of the Christmas break. I didn’t expect the effort they brought out,” he said. “They were fantastic.”
The Hawks got a quick shot off only 40 seconds into play, and hit off their first goal just under seven minutes into the game. Hinton didn’t make a goal until the Hawks were already up to four in the second period, and they got a second one just a few minutes later.
Alix said the Hawks’ backchecking pressure was excellent, along with the team’s forechecking. As always, he said, the players need to work on staying out of the penalty box.
“We took a few of those but our penalty killing seems to be getting better, so it goes hand in hand,” he said.
The Hawks received nine penalties, and the Havoc only two.
Alix said he had to hand it to Hawk Brandon Phillips for his excellent goaltending during the game, and keeping the score gap where it was.
He also noted Jodacee Cardinal, who got three of the Hawks goals, as a significant player of the game, and said “He’s such an impact.”
“It was probably one of the best games that they’ve played this season,” he said. “It was really great to see.”
The Hawks again played the Hinton Havoc on Jan. 8 and took a close loss of 7-6.
Alix also said the team is doing fairly well overall and is near the top of the league, but the Pee Wee Hawks have games coming up against some tough teams, such as Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc, Strathcona and Vegreville.
“All very, very strong teams, so we’re going tor really find out what we’re made of, as far as the league level goes,” Alix said.
