Happy Hawks
THE HAWKESBURY HAWKS ARE ROCKING BACK AT THEIR OWN ROOST NOW WITH THE REOPENING OF THE ARENA AT THE ROBERT HARTLEY SPORTS COMPLEX. DURING A MONDAY AFTERNOON PRACTICE SESSION, HAWKS DAVID JANKOWSKI (LEFT), SIMON BESNER, ALEC BEAUDIN-TOUGAS, AND CHRIS SMITH
They are back home on their own ice in their own arena and the Hawkesbury Hawks could not be happier.
“It couldn’t have happened at a better time,” said Rick Dorval, Hawks general manager and head coach.
The Hawks celebrated the return of home hockey games at the Robert Hartley Sports Complex with a 2-1 overtime freeze-out of the Carleton Place Canadians on January 12. Alec Beaudin-Tougas punched in both of the home team’s goals, and slid the winning goal into the Canadians’ net 30 seconds into the overtime play.
“The guys were energized,” Dorval said, adding that the Hawks players have missed having full and regular access both to their own home ice and also to some of the training and therapy equipment kept in their dressing room/training room area at the sports complex.
The arena facilities at the Robert Hartley Sports Complex were closed by order of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit for most of the opening weeks of the 2017-2018 season because of a mold growth in some parts of the arena area which resulted from problems with the facility dehumidifier equipment. The Hawks switched their regular Friday night home games schedule to Friday afternoons at the Vankleek Hill Arena in neighbouring Champlain Township.
The Town of Hawkesbury contracted a specialist to do a cleanup of the arena facil-
ity and also took advantage of the closure to upgrade some parts of the ice rink and other features of the arena.
“It was a long process but we are extremely
happy,” said Dorval, regarding the cleanup and rehabilitation results. “It looks more like a modern arena. I mean, wow, it’s going to be much easier now to recruit more players.”
The Hawks stay at home this weekend, hosting the Ottawa Junior Senators Friday and the Smiths Falls Bears Saturday night.