Caledon Hockey Update: Golden Hawks open new year with a bang, Admirals and Bombers drop games 

By Robert Belardi 

The Caledon Golden Hawks out of the Provincial Junior Hockey League (Jr. C) were the only team to earn a win out of the three local junior teams to start the new year. 

On Friday, January 6, the Golden Hawks routed the Penetang Kings 9-3 on the road to start off 2023 with a bang. 

And the boys were on the back-foot to begin this bout as Carter Weissflog opened the scoring on the power play just under two minutes into the game. 

But as the Golden Hawks settled in, they earned a power play of their own and capitalized on the man advantage. Michael Kruger scored his sixth goal of the year from Ryan Anderson. 

After Owen Collins restored the one goal lead for the Kings, the Golden Hawks went all-out attack to close the first period. 

Ram Rallapali and Andrew McClure scored two goals in under a minute to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead. 

In the second period, the pesky Penetang Kings refused to go away as Tyson Tarvydas' unassisted goal tied things up. McClure got back on the score sheet shortly after with his 19th goal of the season and then Kruger added another goal in the game to give the Hawks a 5-3 lead going into the third period. 

As you might have expected, the floodgates opened in the third.

Joey Furlano scored his 16th goal of the year, Rallapali scored his second goal of the year, Carson Bennett also added his second goal of the year and Chad Van Weelie scored his first goal of the year short-handed to seal the win. 

Following an emphatic victory, the Golden Hawks hosted the Stayner Siskins and it was quite a different outcome from the game before. 

The Siskins took down the Hawks with a dominating 6-1 win. 

The Golden Hawks will have their work cut out for them this week as the boys travel to Alliston tomorrow to take on the Hornets and then the Hawks will host the Huntsville Otters this Sunday. 

Over in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (Jr. B), the Caledon Bombers had quite a regrettable beginning to 2023 having conceded 16 goals in two games to start the year. 

The Bombers fell 8-5 against the Ayr Centennials and then dropped another dud with an 8-2 defeat to the Kitchener-Waterloo Siskins. 

With 203 goals against thus far throughout the year, the Bombers have the second-highest goals against total in the entire league. Only the Brantford Bandits at 247 goals against this year are in a worse position. 

The club also has the second highest amount of penalty minutes in the GOJHL. The Bombers have spent 712 minutes in the box. Only the Fort Erie Meteors have spent more time in the sin bin with 720 minutes in total. 

Guelph native and head coach of the Bombers Jordan Hatzinger will definitely have some work to do throughout the course of the year and into next season to lessen some of the blows that the club has been currently going through. 

The club will look to try and begin to right the ship tonight against the Centennials again on the road. The Bombers will host the Kitchener-Waterloo Siskins tomorrow night at Mayfield at 8:00 p.m. 

As for the Caledon Admirals in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (Jr. A), the boys suffered a 7-2 defeat to the Burlington Cougars to open up the year, before suffering a heart-breaking 5-4 defeat to the Haliburton County Huskies. 

In the loss to the Cougars, Jake Barkley and Andrew Tsotsos were responsible for the lone goals for the Admirals. 

Having been outshot 52-28 against the Huskies, Admirals netminder Antonino Rizzo stood on his head to give the club a chance at a victory against one of the top teams in the league. 

Having taken an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Blake Power and Jake Barkley, the Huskies pulled one back thanks to Leo Serlin. 

With the Admirals taking a 3-1 lead by the end of the second period thanks to a power play goal from Daniel Nau, it was always going to be a tough third period to edge out the victory. 

The Huskies scored on the power play early from Patrick Saini just over a minute in, but the Admirals shot back with a goal of their own to restore the two-goal advantage thanks to Evin Kojokaro. 

But the Huskies, eventually came back to tie the game with two goals under a minute. Boyd Stahlbaum scored on a penalty shot and Alex Cunningham tied it up setting up a thrilling last half of the period of play. 

With 30 seconds to go in regulation, Ty Collins broke Admiral hearts that evening, sealing the victory. 

The Admirals take on the St. Michaels Buzzers this Thursday evening, January 12. Puck drop at Mayfield Arena is at 7:30 p.m.