Sports

Tough weekend for the Golden Hawks after double loss

December 16, 2013   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart
The Caledon Golden Hawks took it on the chin over the weekend, taking two losses — one on the road and one at home.
The first game of the weekend ended on the negative side when the team travelled to Penetang to take on the Kings.
After having one goal waved off, the squad could not get back into the game and the Penetang team steamrolled through the second and third periods scoring three unanswered goals in each frame.
“We were up 1-0, or thought we were and had scored,” said Hawk forward Nicholas McNutt. “There was point-three seconds left and we put the puck in the net and their goalie swept it out real quick and the ref waved it off. We let that get to us too much. We weren’t physical, we let them play their game and we didn’t play ours.”
The game ended 7-0 for the Kings.
The return to Caledon Sunday (Dec. 8) to face the Alliston Hornets started out well when Steven Klomp opened the scoring for the Hawks at 5:30 into the first period.
It was the second frame that saw the Hawks in trouble when Alliston scored to tie it up then went ahead with two more to lead 3-1 going into the final 20 minutes.
The return for the third period saw a real effort by the Hawks to get back in the game and they came close when Patrick Savella took advantage of a powerplay and scored at 10:56 to make it 3-2.
They started working well on the powerplay and executed well, but couldn’t find the spot at the back of the Alliston net.
Things fell apart when both sides started taking penalties that resulted in one Alliston player and three Caledon players being ejected for misconducts.
It got even worse when the Hawks had to end the game with two men short on the ice.
“We made mistakes and they capitalized on them,” McNutt said. “We didn’t do ourselves any favours by yapping at the ref and taking penalties — of course the ref is going to look for every little thing after that.”
The final period was a full 20 minutes of intense and hard hitting hockey.
Unfortunately, some of the hits resulted in hitting-from-behind calls, which a few of the fans didn’t like. But calling the game from the comfort of the seats and hurling insults, by name, at players and the referee, is a lot easier than being on the ice and actually doing the job.
The Hornets ended it with a final goal to make it a 4-2 game.
“I think in the third we had our opportunities to come back,” McNutt said. “We had the two break-aways and one or two powerplays, but at the end of the day we shot ourselves in the foot by drawing a penalty then retaliating or saying something to the refs. When there’s a minute-40 left, and its a five-on-three, you can’t really do anything about it. Even if you pull the goalie, you’re still short handed.”
Despite the two losses, the Golden Hawks are having a stellar season with a 16-10 record so far, including the two weekend losses, and are in fourth place in the Georgian Mid Ontario League.
Hockey fans in Caledon would appreciate the high quality of skill on the Junior C team as well as the experience of the bench led by former NHLer, Sandy McCarthy, who has done a tremendous job with the squad this season.
Spending a Sunday evening at the arena in Caledon East to see this local Junior level team in action is well worth the price of admission.
The Hawks will be in Stayner tonight (Thursday) to face the Siskins with a 8:10 p.m. start.
They return to home ice at Caledon East Sunday (Dec. 15) to host the Schomberg Cougars.
The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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