COLUMBUS, OH - The Arrowhawks ended the 2014 Winter session with a hard-fought win against the Bombers 6-1 before 6 fans tonight. The win slotted the Hawks as the fifth seed in the playoffs, with a 7-5 record, 34 goals for and 28 goals against.
Jamie Santho manned the pipes and was brilliant when called upon. Goals were scored by five different players. The Hawks were undermanned with only nine skaters, but dictated play firing 35 shots on the night.
Perennial point man and top center Bryan Wharton got lost someplace in Columbus and couldn't make the game. His loss was felt on the bench as the Hawks iced only three defenseman, Nick Lanctot, Tyler Moats, who was freakin brilliant, and Ted Bulwinkle who continued to demonstrate his fancy crossover skating, thwarting Bombers all night.
Kevin Griffith opened the scoring just 24 seconds into the game. From there the Hawks never looked back.
"We were concerned about Kevin's ability tonight," said LW Tom Morgan who played off wing on the top line. "He entered the game with a full gut of cheesecake and chimmichongas. He tried to vomit on the bench several times but to no avail. Although his digestive track let him down, he didn't let us down. He was solid and might have won a face off or two, despite treating each drop like he was allergic to the puck." he added.
New Arrowhawk Ryan Turay potted two important goals to give the Hawks the spark they needed down the stretch.
"We got effort from all lines tonight," said Oleg Chetverikov, fresh off a conditioning stint swimming 5 miles in a speedo the day before the game. "I needed to get my lungs back for the playoff push," said Chetverikov after the game.
Many of the Hawks regulars were scratched for the game. Captain Mark Monahan, Jason Torsok, Mac Lawless, Terry Walker and Rich Clingman were preoccupied with various parental duties and such.
Fortunately for the Hawks, Tyler Moats provided speed when needed. He was a force on the blueline and has steadily become a powerful player in the Friday division.
Next up? Playoffs. The Hawks will battle against Byrnes Pub in the playoff opener. They'll do their best next Friday to solve the Andrew Daniels goaltending dilemma in hopes of their league-leading seventh championship.
"It's a tall order," said Morgan. "But I think we're up for it."
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