“Practice makes perfect ” was the overall goal for Athabasca Midget “B ” Hawks on Saturday night, as the team lost 8-2 to the Whitecourt Wolverines at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex.
“Practice makes perfect ” was the overall goal for Athabasca Midget “B ” Hawks on Saturday night, as the team lost 8-2 to the Whitecourt Wolverines at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex.
Despite the lopsided score, Hawks head coach Jeff Johnson said he was still impressed with the way his young team performed, noting that Wolverines are ranked as an ‘A' division team.
“With a team that hasn't played much before by having a lot of first year players, it's a great game and some great practice for us, ” he said. “Obviously, we shouldn't even be in the same league as those guys. We can learn a lot from a game like this. ”
“If you play a team that you do really well against, you can get bad habits, ” he added. “But if you play a team that's a lot stronger, then you develop good little habits. ”
The first period didn't fly well for the Hawks. The Wolverines had the large majority of puck possession, during the first 10 minutes of play and outshot the team 13-0.
As the Hawks struggled to clear their defensive zone, the Wolverines netted themselves four goals in the first period and took their shot ration up to 23-3.
The Hawks began to show some improvement in the second period. Even though the Wolverines dominated in puck possession and shots, the Hawks were able to hold back the Wolverines to just two goals thanks to some better defensive coverage.
“The guys got better as the game went on, ” Johnson said. “They never gave up. They started doing the little things better, with the (defensive) zone coverage. It just slowly came together. ”
The Hawks finally found themselves on the scoreboard halfway through the third period.
A pass from Erik Bay went right to the tape of Jamie Johnson in the slot, capitalizing on the power play opportunity and a scrambling Wolverines' goalie.
Less than three minutes later, Bay would put himself on the score sheet again, netting the Hawks second and final goal of the night.
“I'm really happy that the couple veterans that were working hard out there the whole game got the goals, ” he said. “We ended up tying them in the last period, and they out shot us 23-3 in the first period. ”
The tough loss brought the Hawks record to 0-1-2 during 2016-17 preseason play.
But Johnson isn't worried about the direction his young team is going, now that they are heading into the regular season.
“It's good - they're a great bunch of kids, ” he said. “I'm proud of their effort and their coachability. ”
