Sports

Golden Hawks’ regulation unbeaten streak reaches six games since start of December

January 12, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte
The Caledon Golden Hawks seem to have hit their stride since the beginning of December, but it may be too late to make an impact in the Provincial Junior Hockey League playoff race.
A pair of overtime losses and a win since returning from the holiday break has brought the junior C club to a record of 3-0-3 in their last six games, a stretch since Dec. 19 in which the team has not lost in regulation time.
In what was almost a complete upset, the Hawks took the league-leading Stayner Siskins to the limit in their first game of January, notching two goals in the final 10 minutes of play to send the game to overtime. Though Stayner earned the extra point, Caledon’s Christian Cipironi was dynamite in his first game between the pipes for the Golden Hawks as the team begins the rebuild for next season.
Friday’s game visiting the Penetang Kings once again saw the Hawks make a third period comeback, with Matt Magliozzi scoring twice in the third to send the game to overtime, though Penetang won it 5-4 a little more than three minutes into extra time.
Sunday’s weekly home game was the rubber match in the season series between the Hawks and the Schomberg Cougars, with the teams splitting two wins each and a tie until that point.
Magliozzi had another multi-goal night, scoring twice in the first period, as the Hawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Another new face for the Hawks, Anton Trublin, scored the other first period marker, before completing a hat trick by the third period. Caledon took it 6-3 on 28 shots.
Trublin, sent to the Hawks after three successful seasons in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, has notched seven goals and six assists in just five games played so far.
The Hawks’ hot streak is just the latest in a season that seems to have taken a turn for the better after winning just one of their first 15 games. Thirteen of the team’s 17 points have come since the start of December, having played on par with, or better than, the majority of the other club’s within the OJHL’s Carruthers division.
Despite the team’s current string of success, the Hawks are on the very brink of locking up last place in the Carruthers division. With five games left on the schedule, they sit eight points back of the seventh place Orillia Terriers, with the Terriers needing only one win to ensure they do not finish at the bottom of the table.
The team that is really worth catching, however, is the Schomberg Cougars, currently nine points up on the Hawks in sixth place. The bottom two teams in the division will draw either the Alliston Hornets or the Stayner Siskins, who have made the division a two-team race this year by utter domination.
As the only two teams with records above .500, the Hornets and Siskins have combined for a total of seven losses. In comparison, the third place Midland Flyers head into the final two weeks of play with 20.
If standings remain as is, Caledon will draw the 31-3-0 Siskins in the first round of the PJHL playoffs, while the Terriers will have to deal with the 28-4-1 Hornets.
The Hawks return home this Sunday to host the Huntsville Otters (14-21-0) at Caledon East. Puck drop is set for 6:30 p.m.
They will have to contend with the Hornets twice more in the final four games of the season, set to wrap up Jan. 29.
For stats, schedules, and more information, visit www.jrcgoldenhawks.pointstreaksites.com

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