Hawks lose edge, fall to Panthers 5-2

COLUMBUS, OH - Sometimes Santa gets kicked in the nuts. It may be inadvertent and accidental or in some cases calculated by a little elf who never was happy painting fairy wings and just had his fill. That was the Panthers tonight. They had had enough.

In this case the mad elf was Daniel Smith, notching a hat-trick on one of league's best goalies, Arrowhawk netminder Jason Jensen. Smith's play was the catalyst the Panthers needed to tic-tac-toe their way to a stellar 5-2 thrashing of an undermanned Arrowhawk squad.

"We didn't have an answer tonight," said disappointed captain Mark Monahan after the game. "They beat us in the corner, in the neutral zone, around the net and on the scoreboard. We didn't have our normal flow and were off the entire game. Give them credit, they played well."

The Hawks hadn't seen Smith on the ice prior to tonight's contest. It was evident early he had the potential to skate coast-to-coast and as the game wore on, he did just that. He scored high glove, backside around the net and again over Jensen's blocker-side shoulder. Defenseman Mac Lawless and Nick Lanctot, usually money against the league's top scorers like Mark Waterstreet and James Chronic were stymied following Smith and normal Panther sniper Travis Mathis, who was equally effective in the game.

"Their offense ran through them," said Lawless, who was tossed late in the third period for checking, then reacting negatively to the Panthers bench. "I wanted to hit the showers early anyways because I was trying out a new 2 and 1 shampoo and I figured the guys would give me crap." added the really tall, monkey-armed defenseman. Lawless' absence on the blueline was felt by the other blueliners, as they crawed to the bench for shift changes late in the game.

"Six minute shifts are normal in beer league right?" said Lanctot after the game. Mike Gauthier and Terry Walker were solid in front but the Panthers skill with the puck was overpowering even for the Hawks tonight.

"The playoffs are a whole-nother animal," said LW Tom Morgan, a leading point man in the league. "Now that we've seen their best, we'll be ready if we see them again." he added.

"They'll have to get past the Eskimos first and we'll have to defeat a solid CS Bank squad. Something tells me this story isn't yet finished, despite their new ringer," said new Arrowhawk GM John Ryder. "We have an answer somewhere in our organization." he added via text message.

It's playoff time. And anything can happen in the playoffs.

"Bring on the angry elf," said Arrowhawk swingman Barry Snow. "And we'll bring the big, angry snowman."

GM Reaction
New Arrowhawk GM John Ryder chimed in after the Hawks second loss of the season.

"I've been busy working behind the scenes looking at trades, who to call up and who to send down. Judging by tonight's performance I need to scrap everything and start anew." he texted.

No word on immediate roster action, but word on the street indicated a BVC and Griffith may be in play. Stay tuned, Hawk fans.