Hawks continue to search for elixir of success

Girl power: Milla Fortice, one of two girls in the U!5 Hawks team. The other is Pennlee Brown.

By Marcus Day

Maple Creek News

For about half of Friday’s game against Assiniboia Rebels, Maple Creek U15 Hawks held their own, showing enough potential to contradict the final score: a 6-3 loss.

Playing with passion and purpose, they took the lead in the first period, their exuberant celebrations showing how much the goal meant. Even when Assiniboia equalized, the Hawks remained competitive.

Could this be the night when the trajectory of the Hawks’ season changed?

Their fans at the Maple Creek Community Arena, and their coaching staff, knew how transformative victory, or even a tie, could prove.

Once the elixir of success is tasted, it is often addictive, creating extra energy … and, most importantly, belief.

With self-confidence, near misses turn into converted chances and setbacks become motivation drivers. A feeling of fun, not frustration, begins to flow through a team.

The Hawks had opportunities against the Rebels, plenty of them.

Blaine Schwab, head coach, knew there was a victory here waiting to be seized. It wasn’t to be, however. Not this time.

The game had started so promisingly. At 12:48 in the first period, Kylar Olsen, assisted by Ryder Nash, prompted a huge cheer in the arena when he slammed the puck into the Rebels’ net.

The lead lasted a little under four minutes, but there was no cause to panic, with an evenly contested game remaining at 1-1 for the rest of the period.

It was mid-way through the second period that the momentum shifted slightly with two Assiniboia goals in quick succession.

Renewed hope

Although Taten Friesen gave the Hawks renewed hope with just under six minutes left in the period, the Rebels snatched their fourth goal 56 seconds from the break.

Nevertheless, the cause was far from lost: 4-2 was salvageable. As in the second period, however, the Hawks were rocked by two Rebel goals separated by little over a minute.

It was to the Hawks’ credit that they found the resolve to respond with six minutes and 40 seconds left. Benz Packard’s long-range strike rippled the Rebels’ net, putting a degree of respectability on the score. Providing the assists were Reid Behrman and Nash.

For Schwab and his assistants, the challenge is now to find positives from the game, and build from there.

One of the positives is effort. There is no doubt the players are keen to turn things around.

That, at least, is a basis for hope.

• On Thursday, January 29, the U15 Hawks lost 10-1 to Gull Lake/Cabri, who top the U15 table in the Southwest Saskatchewan Hockey League. Other teams in the division are Gravelbourg Hornets, Wood River, Southwest Jets, and Swift Current Blades.

U15 Hawks have two home games coming up against Swift Current Blades. The first one is on Sunday, February 8, starting at 3.30pm; the next one is on Friday, February 13, starting at 7.15pm.