"They're a good team," said Arrowhawk captain Mark Monahan after the game. "They play the game well and they have good skaters with skill who can finish," Monahan added.
Coming into the night both the Hawks and Eskimos were tied at the top of the Friday night C2 division. The winner would be in the driver's seat in what has become a hotly contested division.
A quick look at the scoring stats indicated the Eskimos had scoring from every position. They led the division with five different skaters in points and goals scored. If the Hawks were going to make a game of it, they'd have to disrupt the Mo's passing in both zones and have excellent goaltending.
"Jay was awesome tonight, as usual," said second line LW Tom 'I'm glad I'm not back home in Jersey this week' Morgan. "He didn't have a chance on two of their goals as their snipers hit the corners on odd man rushes. We did what we could and we're disappointed we couldn't finish like they did. But our effort was there and we could have won this game." he added.
Hawk defenseman Nick Lanctot, Mac Lawless, Ted Bulwinkle and Mike Gauthier were stout all night in the defensive zone. If there was a key to the game it was the Mo's ability to capitalize on the chances they had.
The Eskimos were granted a suspect 5-3 power play that turned out to be the deciding edge the Mo's needed. Lanctot was called for an interference penalty down low in the Hawks zone for breathing too hard or skating with determination.
"Being down a man in that situation doesn't constitute a call there, especially when there was such little contact," said Mike Gauthier. "It was a head scratcher for sure," he added.
The Mo's potted a rebound on the power play but the Hawks were able to kill the second penalty.
"Again, we had chances tonight," said Tom Morgan. "We controlled the puck in their zone and were able to generate scoring chances but their goalie deserves credit. They play well in front of him. They clog the zone like a hot-dog champion after an eating contest takes a dump."
The Arrowhawks third line of Oleg Chetverikov, Terry Walker and Rick Titus were on the ice for the Hawks lone goal on the night. Titus made a decent play deep in the offensive zone causing a turnover that led to the goal. Terry Walker capitalized on a rebound from Chetverikov's shot on a brilliant diving effort to notch the score at one a piece.
"I knew if I had skated an extra stride the goalie would have recovered so I laid out, smacked at the puck and it went in," Walker said.
It was a dandy, blue-collar goal.
Unfortunately, it was the lone marker for the Hawks.
"We look forward to playing them again," said top line centerman Kevin Griffith. "They're good in all zones but we can play better." he added.
There are no moral victories but if there were the Hawks can be proud of their effort.
"We're right there. We'll see them again," said Jason Jensen. "Who knows what'll happen next time we see them. We wish them luck so we can be the ones wearing the hoodies come April."
EDITORS NOTE: We have video of the Hawks lone goal. Our video editor has gone to bed for the night though and rather than wake her up (she's 13 year's-old) we'll just have to add it tomorrow. For the record, it was a dandy effort by the Hawks crafty GM who is slightly better behind the camera and at the computer than he is on the ice. It might have something to do with the amount of donuts he eats and the occasional beer drank, but when it comes to blue-collar effort, a goal is a goal. Kudos to Terry Walker for cleaning up the garbage in front. Nice job, sanitation man. And to the blonde girl in attendance who dropped an eff-bomb at my daughter after learning she was rooting for the Hawks, I hope you fail your next science test and your boyfriends all turn out to be STD carrying vampires.
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