Minor peewee Hawks capture second playoff win against Brampton

January 24, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart
The Caledon Hawks minor peewee A team have taken another step in a positive direction by winning their first two games in the Ontario Minor Hockey Association play-downs.
The squad won their first game against Owen Sound.
Sunday, they returned to home ice at Caledon East to host Brampton and left with a 5-2 win over the visitors.
The Hawks took an early lead and were up 5-1 at the end of the second period.
Brampton notched one more late in the game, but it was too late for them to get back into the game and the Hawks celebrated their second win of the play-downs.
“We worked really hard and we never gave up,” said Hawks forward and team captain Luca Lera.
Luca said the team’s strengths in Sunday’s game were “forechecking and defence.”
On offence, he said the squad plays off each other’s strengths.
“We dump it in, and we don’t be selfish,” he said. “On the forecheck, we go after the first man with the puck.”
“I look at my linemate,” he said of setting up the offensive play. “It’s the connection we have with our linemates — we know where each other are.”
With two wins behind them, the squad has to get ready for game three — again against Brampton.
“We’re up two, but you can’t take it for granted,” said coach Ian McArthur. “Any team can win here, so you’ve got to keep fighting. The kids are playing really well — they’re peaking at the right time. The offensive pressure that they put on Brampton early on today, we got a couple of early goals set Brampton back on their heels.”
Of course scoring goals is important, but stopping the other team from scoring is just as important in winning games.
“We had stellar goaltending,” McArthur said.
In goal for the Hawks, Matthew Milkovich had an outstanding game shutting down the Brampton shooters.
The squad will have one more game this week against Brampton with results coming after press time.

The Caledon minor peewee Hawks A team took on the squad from Brampton during OMHA playoffs at Caledon East Sunday. The Hawks left the ice with a 5-2 win to take their second consecutive playoff game.
Photo by Brian Lockhart