The
Owen Sound Atom BB Ice Hawks girls hockey season is underway. Opening up
with a 3 - 2 Exhibition game victory on
the 7th September versus the West Huron Wave in Goderich produced promise. An Early-Bird Tournament 19th to
21st September in Markham reinforced the belief that the girls
belonged in this higher category than they had ever played at.
Expectations were guarded but the competitive juices were evident in their first game resulting in a 6 – 0 win over the Whitby Wolves. The Hawks were flying and followed up with another win later in the day against the Scarborough Sharks by a 5 – 2 score. Back at the Hotel, the Ice Hawks enjoyed bonding time and team building exercises organized by the coaching staff. The next morning the Girls were set to faceoff against the tournament hosts Markham-Stouffville Stars. This proved to be a bigger challenge with the Ice Hawks skating to a hard fought 2 – 1 win. With these wins the IceHawks moved into the semi-finals and their opponents were the North York Storm. But the Hawks were ready and flew passed the Storm with a convincing 8 – 0 win and into the Championship Game against the Flamborough Falcons. This was a battle and unfortunately the IceHawks lost a 2- 1 nail-biter in OT. SILVER is a victory to start the season! A bonus to their pre-season experience was that they had played 6 different teams before their regular season started.
Their first league game found the IceHawks on the road in Aylmer against the Belmont Blazers. The two teams were evenly matched with both goalies facing 14 shots apiece. The Blazers took a one goal lead in the dying seconds of the 2nd period on a seeing-eye goal. The IceHawks had their chances but just couldn’t make it happen. Late in the third the Blazers went up by two from a goal-mouth scramble. With our goalie pulled for an extra attacker the Blazers potted their 3rd goal into the empty net to seal the victory 3 – 0. This was a game that the score didn’t paint the whole picture.
The next day found the Ice Hawks in Wellesley to take on the Twin Centre Hericanes. The IceHawks were relentless but couldn’t find the twine. With the goalie pulled for the extra attacker, the Ice was broke and the Hawks finally scored at the 3.50 mark. The Hericanes were desperately trying to hang on to their lead but the Hawks continued to apply the pressure with the extra attacker and they evened the score at two with 59 seconds remaining. The IceHawks still weren’t done. With .5 seconds to go on the time clock, Maizy Hutchinson was the heroine, potting the amazing come-from-behind winner!
Travelling up the road to St Jacobs they played their second game of the day two hours later against the Woolwich Wild. The adrenaline was flowing and the girls were soaring after their earlier win. Wherever the puck was, there was an Ice Hawk. An hour and half later the girls were on their way home with a very satisfying 4 – 0 victory.
On tap is our Home Opener game at the McArthur on Sunday 12th Oct, 12:15pm vs the Stratford Aces.