Golden Hawks a hit at home

Written By JAKE COURTEPATTE

The puck has been dropped on another Provincial Junior Hockey League season, and the Caledon Golden Hawks are off on the right skate on home ice.

The junior C club showcased some promising offense in front of an official attendance of around 200 fans, friends, and family, taking down the Midland Flyers by a score of 6 – 3.

Veteran forward Mathiau Young proved his worth in returning to this year's roster by opening the scoring just over a minute into the first period, before the Hawks went to work on back-to-back penalty kills.

Successfully weathering the storm, the Hawks made Midland pay by notching a powerplay goal of their own shortly after, bringing the lead to two thanks to Dante Zuccaro.

The Flyers were finally able to solve ex-Streetsville Tigers goaltender Dylan Cox late in the first period, though back-to-back goals from captain Matt Magliozzi ensured a 4 – 1 lead early in the second period.

Both sides exchanged a pair of goals each to close out the contest, in what ended a 6 – 3 Caledon win. Darius Kondrotas and Marc Simonetta also each posted their first tallies of the season for the Hawks.

On the back end, the defensive core played their part in the two points by keeping Midland off the board on seven separate powerplays. Cox was stellar in earning his first junior league win, stopping 23 of a total 26 pucks faced.

The win was a bounce back for the Hawks from a crushing defeat at the hands of the Alliston Hornets on Friday, when an Alliston goal in the final minute robbed Caledon of any possible points in the standings.

A front-loaded regular season schedule has the Hawks playing three games in three days this weekend, first visiting with the Penetang Kings on Friday night. They travel to Orillia to take on the Terriers on Saturday, before the weekly Sunday evening home game has the Hawks hosting the Hornets.

Alliston and the Huntsville Otters have both started the season on a perfect note at 2 – 0.

Puck drop Sunday is set for 7p.m. at Caledon East Arena.