Golden Hawks trailing 3-1 in quarter-final against Schomberg

February 13, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart
A 7-0 loss to the Schomberg Cougars Monday (Feb. 10) leaves the Caledon Golden Hawks down two games in their first round Georgian Mid Ontario Hockey League playoff series.
The Hawks led the series after the first game when they left the ice with a convincing 6-2 win on home ice last Sunday (Feb. 2).
In that game, the Caledon squad took the victory in the third period with three goals against the Cougars, who appeared to be running out of gas in the final 20 minutes.
The Hawks were leading 3-2 in the second frame on goals from Steven Klomp, Daniel Cafagna and Chris Smith. Two of those goals came on a powerplay.
Klomp and Derek Czech scored unanswered goals in the third, followed by an empty netter from Nicholas McNutt to end the game and give the Hawks the first game of the series.
Travelling to Schomberg for the second outing, the Hawks fell behind in the second period when the Cougars scored three unanswered goals to lead 5-1 going into the final 20 minutes. That included a five-on-three goal when the Hawks had two men in the penalty box.
In the third, Caledon scored two — both on powerplays — that were matched by Schomberg, and both of those goals were also on powerplays.
“The whole series, we talk before the game. Who ever is most discipline is going to win the series,” commented Hawks’ forward Cody Forgione. “That’s why we didn’t win tonight. We just had too many penalty minutes. We can’t win when we’re out there on a five-on-three.”
In total, the Hawks had 36 minutes in penalties on 14 infractions.
“We are trying to stay calm on the bench,” Forgione said. “It’s frustrating with some of the calls, but we have to realize to just keep out cool, because we can dominate them on a five-on-five.”
Coming to the series, the teams were pretty evenly matched.
Schomberg ended the regular season in fourth place with a 25-15 record compared to a fifth place finish for the Hawks with a 21-19 record.
“From what I’ve seen, they’re a young team — most of them are ‘95s. They’re small, quick. I think if we keep using our size, keep hitting, they will get frustrated,” Forgione added. “We have to keep our cool. It’s been penalties all year. We just have to bear down next game — this game, we weren’t saying anything or chirping after the whistles, so we realized that’s what we need to do.”
The return to Caledon Sunday for the third game saw the Hawks leading 3-2 at the end of the first, and 4-3 at the end of the second period.
It was the third period that did the damage when the Schomberg squad went ahead on the three goals to win 6-5.
Back to Schomberg for game four Monday, the Hawks failed to score in a match that saw Schomberg notch two in the first period, three in the second and two break-away goals in the third to end the game at 7-0.
The series isn’t over, but with a two-game deficit, the Golden Hawks will have to pull off a major comeback to win. Anything is possible.
The series will be over if Schomberg wins one more game.
Game five is scheduled for tonight (Thursday) in Schomberg.
The puck drop is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.

Golden Hawks forward Steven Klomp was trying to get something going from behind the Schomberg net in last Thursday’s match, which the Cougars won 7-3.
Photo by Brian Lockhart