Golden Hawks take double losses over the weekend

October 25, 2013 · 0 Comments

Caledon Golden Hawk forward Randy Chen takes the shot on Orillia Terriers goalie Gordie Weiss during the third period of Sunday night’s Junior C game at Caledon East arena. The Golden Hawks had to settle for a 5-4 loss to the visitors.
Photo by Brian Lockhart

By Brian Lockhart
The Caledon Golden Hawks slipped into fourth place in the Georgian Mid Ontario Junior C Hockey League after coming up short in both games over the weekend.
Friday, the squad travelled to Huntsville to take on the Otters, but left with a 5-2 loss after giving up a two-goal lead in the first period.
Caledon’s Steven Klomp and Derek Czech both notched singles in the first period to lead 2-1 at the end of the frame.
The Otters went ahead by one after scoring two in the second period.
A fourth unanswered Huntsville goal in the third period gave the Otters a 4-2 lead early in the frame and an empty netter sealed the deal.
The return to home ice Sunday at the Caledon East arena to face the Orillia Terriers went sour late in the game when the Golden Hawks were assessed a five minute misconduct with 2:40 left on the clock and the game tied at four.
Orillia scored with 1:43 left in the game on a goal that brought an immediate reaction from both the Hawks bench and the fans in the stands who thought the goal should have been waved off after Caledon goalie Eric Pitcher was knocked down in the crease by an Orillia player. The puck bounced off the glass and out front, then into the net while Pitcher was still down on the ice.
Many fans were upset that the goal was allowed citing goalie interference.
On the good side, the Hawks came back from a three-goal deficit in the first period to tie the game up in the second.
Caledon’s Nicholas McNutt scored a single and Rock Furfari notched a pair to get the Hawks back into the game.
Another Orillia goal in the third period was answered when Daniel Cafagna took the feed from Patrick Savella to tie the game at four at the 13:19 minute mark.
“The first 20 minutes we didn’t give it our all. That’s what screwed us in the end,” said Hawk forward Daniel Cafagna. “We could blame it on the refs, but you can’t win games in this league if you’re playing 40 minutes, you’ve got to play a full 60.”
Going into the second period, Cafagna said the squad re-grouped and had a better performance.
“In the second period, I think we had control of that game,” he observed. “They had no pressure in our zone. We had three goals, they had none. We carried on to the third but couldn’t generate much.”
This was the fourth time the Hawks have met the Terriers this season, and the Caledon squad came out on top in the first three games. They won’t meet again this season unless they face each other in the playoffs.
Considering all the penalty minutes both teams racked up in this Friday game — on paper it was 61 minutes on 14 infractions for Orillia, and 46 minutes on 14 infractions for Caledon — it’s probably a good thing these teams are facing other squads for a while.
So far this season, the GMOHL has been turning out a competitive bunch of teams with four teams all claiming first place at one time or another.
After the weekend, the Penetang Kings have moved into the top spot with 21 points.
They are followed by the Alliston Hornets in second place and the Schomberg Cougars holding on the third place.
The Golden Hawks have two home games this weekend.
They host the Fergus Devils Friday with an 8:30 p.m. start at the Caledon East arena. Then they have their regular Sunday night game when they will go up against the Erin Shamrocks. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.