Caledon Golden Hawks lose to Penetang Sunday in a shoot-out

November 29, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart
Sunday night’s Junior C game between the Caledon Golden Hawks and the Penetang Kings came down to a shoot-out after the teams battled to a 2-2 tie and a five-minute overtime period failed to produce a winner.
The Penetang team came to town with something to prove — they are a first-place team and plan to keep it that way, and they went home with the win.
Conversely, the Golden Haws also had something to prove — they are in fourth place and were playing to gain the two points and take some momentum out of the Kings’ season.
If this game showed one thing, it’s that the Golden Hawks can play anybody in the league. They matched the Kings in speed and ability for the entire game.
After a scoreless first period, the teams returned to try and get the edge in the second.
The Golden Hawks opened the scoring at the one-minute mark in the period on a goal from Rocky Furfari. The Kings answered with two goals to take the lead less than eight minutes into the period. Another goal from Caledon’s Patrick Savella tied it at two.
It was a frustrating second period for the Hawks, as they had three goals waved off — two because they were deemed to have been kicked into the goal, and a third, well, let’s just say the Pen goalie had a fast hand. The Caledon bench was clearly not impressed with the call.
Either way, it happens in hockey and you just have to get over it and try to move on and score again.
The third period was a blistering 20 minutes, with plenty of chances on both sides, including two Penetang shots that hit the crossbar. But no one could place it to the back of the net.
“We came to play, but the bounces just didn’t go our way every time —and they disallowed three goals,” said Caledon forward Randy Chen. “I think everybody played their hearts out tonight. Everybody did their job. It just didn’t go our way.”
The Caledon squad has had a few games this season in which things just fell apart in one period. But the team was on top of their game Sunday for the full 60 minutes.
“I think that was a motivation for us,” Chen said of the fact that they were going up against a first-place team. “We knew who we were going up against — we had to prove to a lot of people that we are a better team than everyone else. I think we did really well offensively, but there’s a few things we can work on. But besides that, I think we had it all down. I think we out-hit them a lot, but they knew where to be at all times — they’ve been playing together for a long time.”
The Caledon squad spent 10 minutes in the penalty box, giving the Kings five powerplay opportunities.
The Kings matched them with 10 minutes spent in the box for the game.
When it came down the shoot-out, the Kings took the win 2-1 in five attempts.
After the weekend, the Golden Hawks maintain their fourth-place standing in the Georgian Mid Ontario League with 32 points.
The Hawks will travel to Erin Saturday (Nov. 30) to face the Shamrocks.
They return to home ice at Caledon East arena Sunday (Dec. 1) to host the Stayner Siskins.
The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Golden Hawks forward Christian Bonaldi takes a shot on the Penetang Kings goal during the second period of Sunday’s game at Caledon East arena. The Hawks had to settle for a 3-2 loss when the game went to a shoot-out to decide the winner.
Photo by Brian Lockhart