Golden Hawks drop first two playoff games

Written By ROBERT BELARDI

The Caledon Golden Hawks find themselves in a hole after losing the first two games of their first round playoff series against the Penetang Kings. 

Both games were settled by one goal. They were close encounters that could have gone either way. 

Last Friday, the Hawks travelled into enemy territory to kick off the series, in front of 219 people in the home crowd. 

Andrew Snowden opened the scoring 2:42 in the first period for the Kings. After three minutes, the Hawks settled in and Deaglan Small got the hometown boys on the board. 

Later on in the period, on the powerplay, the Kings took the lead. Kylar Watson buried his chance. That would eventually serve as the game winning goal. 

The Hawks outshot the Kings 30-25. The boys had three powerplays. Kings goaltender Daniel Botelho and Hawks goaltender Aidan Spooner went head-to-head. A tough fought battle with minor errors, the Golden Hawks knew the next game was crucial at home. 

In the next game last Sunday, the Golden Hawks came out flying. 

If you blinked, you missed the opening goal. Nine seconds in, Brennan Laverty found the back of the net taking the Kings by surprise. 

Then the Golden Hawks beat themselves up, running into unnecessary penalty trouble. 

As a result, the boys paid the price. 

Kylar Watson scored the Kings' first powerplay goal of the period and Jared Aube, tipped in the second shortly after. The Golden Hawks had four players in the box at once. So two goals in succession, really hurt the morale. 

With 12 seconds left to go, Kylar Watson continued his hot streak, burying a clean breakaway finish past the right pad of Spooner. Everyone in Caledon East was silent. 

The Kings had scored three goals on seven shots. 

In the second period, Small put one in the net for the Golden Hawks just over a minute in. Pressing for most of the period, Wesley Weir was brought down right in front of Botelho while on a breakaway. 

The referees called for a penalty shot. Weir stepped up and was denied by the left pad of Botelho. 

After outplaying the Kings in the first two periods, the Golden Hawks seemingly, could not find any momentum. 

The Kings played a tight third period, forcing the Hawks to make mistakes. For over two minutes, five on five, the Kings held possession in the Hawks zone. A few minutes of nervousness, as Spooner denied plenty of chances to keep the game within one goal. 

With just a minute left to play, the Hawks took another penalty that ended a chance to bring this one to overtime. 

“They are very well positioned, and then we start running around and not doing our jobs,” said head coach Stan Kondrotas, highlighting the defensive errors that subsequently lead to goals. 

“We've got to stop the ridiculous, selfish penalties, and start playing like we can play. We've handed them another game. That's two games we've handed them in a row.” 

With their backs up against the wall, now the true test begins. It's safe to say, the boys were frustrated going into the dressing room after the buzzer and this team is well aware, what they're capable of. 

“We just got to keep playing,” said team captain Everett Flewelling. “It's a long series, seven games, we're down two, but, it's only been one goal games. Stay disciplined, work hard, that's pretty much it.” 

The Golden Hawks travel back out to Penetang on Friday before returning home to play on Sunday. Puck drop on Sunday is at 7 p.m.