Golden Hawks 1-1 in opening weekend
The Lethbridge Val Matteotti bantam AAA Golden Hawks wrapped up their homeopening season on a winning note.
The Golden Hawks skated to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames during Alberta Major Hockey League play Sunday afternoon at Nicholas Sheran Arena.
After a scoreless first period, the Golden Hawks shattered the scoreless draw with four goals in the second period — including a shorthanded tally that made it 3-1 — on their way to the win that gives the team a 1-1 start to the season following a 4-2 setback to the Calgary Royals Saturday afternoon at the ATB Centre.
“We just played like a team,” said Golden Hawks team captain and veteran defenceman Carson Haynes. “It’s our second game and we just got all the nerves out and started playing like a team.”
It didn’t take long for the Golden Hawks to break the scoreless tie when Joel Mabin staked Lethbridge to a 1-0 lead 2:47 into the second.
Nolan Price put the Golden Hawks up 2-0 a little less than four minutes later, capitalizing on a turnover at the Lethbridge blueline and scoring on a partial breakway.
The Flames cut that lead in half shortly afterwards, but the Golden Hawks responded with a shorthanded goal from Colin McLeod midway through the second.
Rylan Bruns wrapped up the scoring, putting Lethbridge up 4-1 with 5:35 left in the period.
After giving up the second period goal, Golden Hawk goaltender Erick Roest turned aside everything he saw the rest of the way to record the win.
“Today we came out with the same energy and the work ethic was there,” said Golden Hawks head coach Doug Paisley. “We shuffled lines just a little bit to make some minor adjustments and see if we could generate a littel bit of offence and it seemed to work. The kids came out in the second period and had some confidence. They were buzzing and flying and it paid off. (We had) a couple of lucky breaks, I don’t think all the goals were pretty, so it’s good there are no pictures on the score sheet.
“But certainly proud of the effort and they were doing the right thing to create those chances. We’re all about process and the end result today with our process was it showed in a 4-1 win.”
On Saturday, the Golden Hawks trailed 2-1 after the first period and 3-2 after the second before the Royals added an insurance goal in the third to salt the win.
Price and Conner Furukawa were the Lethbridge goal scorers, while Tyler Palmer was in goal, making 23 saves.
“Yesterday we felt pretty comfortable with the effort, we just didn’t get the outcome,” said Paisley. “We put up good shots against the Royals. We outshot them 39-27, but a couple of details and they capitalized on our mistakes and we didn’t capitalize on theirs.”
The Golden Hawks look to get above the .500 mark early in the season when they host the Calgary Northstars Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. at the ATB Centre.
“(With) our power play, we have some work to do there, for sure,” said Paisley. “Our power play wasn’t successfull all weekend and we were over-handling and hanging onto pucks too long. We just have to simplify it a little bit and dumb it down. But I think it’ll come with another week of practice.
“We were scrambling in our defensive zone with regards to our penalty kill and again, it was just guys trying to do too much. We just need to simplify. But we’re really happy overall with the effort and the compete level from the guys. The goal going forward for us is to make sure we maintain the work ethic and the attitude and we’ll be fine.”
Haynes simply welcomed the chance to kick the season off.
“It was great,” he said. “Our group is so tight that we feel like family so we know where everybody is going to be. It’s so fun to play and that’s what you need to win.”
With the captain’s ‘C’ this season, Haynes will be looked to to lead. It’s a role he welcomes. “It’s going to be great,” said Haynes. “I’ve always wanted the responsibility, but everybody in the room is a leader and everybody takes charge when they need to. It’s a group effort.”
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