Sports

Midget AA Hawks roll on against Orangeville Flyers

March 2, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte
The hottest team in midget AA Ontario hockey just keeps on winning.
The Caledon Hawks are one win away from booking their ticket to the OMHA finals, up two games to one on the Orangeville Flyers after a 9-1 shellacking on the road Friday.
Winning all nine of their postseason matches heading into the first-to-six-points semifinal series with the Flyers, the Hawks cruised through the Guelph Gryphons, Halton Hills Thunder and Niagara Flyers by a combined score of 51-15.
It was almost an inevitability that the Hawks and Flyers would meet up in the final four, having dominated the rest of the Tri-County Minor Hockey League all season.
Game one against the Flyers went to Caledon by a score of 5-2 in front of a packed arena in Caledon East, before moving to Alder Arena in Orangeville, where fans of both sides also packed the seats.
Both Caledon goaltender Justin Lowe and his Orangeville counterpart were stellar in the first period, when Max Grant had the period’s only goal in the dying minutes to give Caledon a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Back-and-forth play in the second had the Hawks up 3-1 heading into the final 15 minutes, before penalty trouble iced the Flyers.
Giving up two quick goals early in the third, a handful of retaliatory penalties had the Flyers making a carousel to the penalty box, while the Hawks capitalized to make it a 7-1 game.
Two ejections for Orangeville, resulting in five-minute majors, turned the game into a debacle with the Hawks winning by eight.
Orangeville rebounded with a 3-1 win in Caledon East Monday, Caledon’s first loss since late December, though they need just two more points to advance to the OMHA final.
The Hawks, who brought the Silver Stick trophy back to Caledon in January for the second consecutive year, went an incredible 56-4-3 in the regular season.
Game four goes tonight (Thursday) at Alder Arena, with puck drop set for 9:15 p.m.
The other semifinal features the Newmarket Redmen battling the Whitby Wildcats, with the Wildcats leading two games to one.
Three other Caledon rep teams are also still contending in the OMHA semifinals. The atom AAs will be looking to crawl out of a 2-0 deficit against the Milton Winterhawks, while the minor bantam AAs are one point from elimination after losing two and tying one against the Burlington Eagles Gold.
The midget AE Hawks are tied at a game apiece with the Ajax Knights.
For schedules, visit www.caledonminorhockey.com

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