Caledon Golden Hawks keep on rolling with fifth straight win

Written By JAKE COURTEPATTE

As the saying goes, defense wins championships.

A pair of strong performances between the pipes, and the junior C Caledon Golden Hawks are on their hottest streak of the season.

Aidan Spooner and Jason Cumbo led the Golden Hawks to their fourth and fifth wins in a row in the Provincial Junior Hockey League last weekend, scraping up the standings back to above the .500 level.

The Hawks were able to take advantage of a last place Otters squad on the road in Huntsville on Friday night, with the Otters heading in the other direction on the wrong end of four straight contests.

Huntsville's Cam Walters was able to solve Spooner in the first period, though it was his night the rest of the way, stopping all eighteen of the shots he faced before the final buzzer.

At the other end of the rink, Caledon managed four straight in the final forty minutes from Daniel Butt, Jake Semmens, Marc Bottero, and Luke Miehm to cruise to the 4 – 1 victory.

With the veteran Cumbo back in his usual spot in the crease on Sunday back at Caledon East Arena, facing an onslaught of chances from the Penetang Kings offense, though managing to pick up his third straight win.

Butt continued his team-leading pace by opening the scoring while shorthanded in the second period, taking advantage of a surprise two-on-one with Keyon Grenade.

Darius Kondrotas doubled the lead with another special teams marker, this time from the point on the powerplay, before Ethan Lajeunesse made it 3 – 0 on a one-timer just seconds after the next draw.

Penetang finally managed to beat Cumbo late in the second period, though he did collect a whopping 35 saves in an eventual 4 – 3 win.

Miehm provided the final Caledon tally, collecting a loose puck in the slot in the third period.

It was a welcome home win for the Hawks, who have surprisingly struggled on the Caledon ice this season, playing to a record of 2-5-1-0 at The Nest.

Overall, however, they improve to 8-7-1-1, good enough to jump to fifth in the tight Carruthers division standings, just eight points back of the division-leading Alliston Hornets.

Caledon can make up some ground when they meet with the Hornets this coming Sunday, with the Hawks set to host the Hornets for the first time this season. Puck drop is set for 7p.m.

Before the crucial matchup, Caledon will visit with the Midland Flyers on Friday, who sit six points back of the Hawks in the standings.

Moving forward, the squad can certainly rely on the Spooner/Cumbo duo on any given night: both goalies improved their records to 4 – 4 with each win, and hold the exact same .900 save percentage.

Sunday's game also marks the club's annual ‘Pink in the Rink' campaign, when the team will don pink jerseys alongside their junior affiliates, the Brampton Bombers and Brampton Admirals.

The game-worn jerseys will be auctioned off afterwards, alongside an ongoing bake sale throughout the game, with all proceeds going towards the Headwaters Regional Health Centre.