Caledon Golden Hawks lose two out of three this week

January 9, 2020 · 0 Comments

Written By ROBERT BELARDI

The Caledon Golden Hawks crushed the Schomberg Cougars 5-2, before falling to Midland and Orillia at the beginning of the new year.

The Golden Hawks snapped a rakish, three-game losing skid at home, with a quality performance on December 29th against the Cougars.

The Golden Hawks also welcomed back former Cougar, Vito Sica to the lineup from a six-game suspension and captain Darius Kondrotas who was absent, due to injury. Both players had an assist in this contest.

Sica was traded to the Golden Hawks from the Cougars earlier in the year for Kory Lund and Cameron Clewes.

The Golden Hawks got on the board early thanks to a nice effort from Wesley Weir. The forward’s first of the year, energized the team.

Cougars forward Connor Childerhose came back the other way a few minutes later on the breakaway, only to be denied by Goaltender Aidan Spooner, who saved 39 of 41 shots that evening.

With just over six minutes to play in the first, Alex Rasonen sprung free into the zone and fired a nice wrister from the hashmarks passed Curtis Boothe to give the Golden Hawks a 2-0 lead.

In response, the Cougars continued to press, earning two more breakaways that were turned aside from Spooner.

In the 2nd period, the Golden Hawks added another goal. Off the faceoff the puck was thrown to the net by the Golden Hawks. Boothe spilled the rebound and there to clean up the mess was Keegan Hoover for a three-goal lead.

The last time the Golden Hawks had a three-goal lead was against the Alliston Hornets two days before. The Golden Hawks ended up losing.

“Yeah, I kept telling them they gotta keep working hard. The game was turning a little bit there, Schomberg started taking it to us a little bit,” said head coach Stan Kondrotas, when asked if the 3-0 lead against Alliston crept into his thoughts when his team was up 3-0.

With just over three minutes to play in the second period Connor Childerhose finally found the back of the net on the power play and the Cougars cut the deficit to two.

In the third period the Golden Hawks placed this one far out of reach thanks to Mark Bottero and Daniel Butt. Cougars forward Spencer Ripley added the team’s second goal afterwards.

Spooner denied many of Cougars’ chances in the third to preserve the victory and Ethan Lajeunesse was voted player of the game by the boys in locker room. Lajeunesse filled in as a defenceman in the game when he is normally recognized for playing centre.

Head Coach Stan Kondrotas was elated with the team’s performance post game. He praised the goaltending from Aidan Spooner, was very satisfied having most of his normal team back in the lineup and believes the division is wide open moving forward into this new year.

“I think we have an opportunity like anybody else. I don’t think there is one team, you can’t say is out,” said Kondrotas.

Following an impressive performance, the Golden Hawks travelled to Midland on January 3rd, falling 4-1 on the road. The boys returned home on Sunday to take on rival Orillia Terriers, losing 4-1.

Not for a lack of effort or skillful play on the ice, the Golden Hawks couldn’t seem to find the back of the net.

The Hawks also lose their third straight bout against the Terriers.