Home served the Hawks well this weekend as they picked up back-to-back wins to move to 3-0-0-2 in the early days of the 2017-2018 Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) season.
On Friday, September 8, nearly 300 fans came out to the Robert Hartley Sports Complex to see the Hawks welcome the Cornwall Colts in their official home-opening game. The Hawks would use the energy of the home crowd to take an early lead in the first period off a goal from Colin Stevens, before the Colts answered back in the second to tie the game 1-1. With the match up for grabs, it was Hawkesbury who would break through in the final frame, potting two goals less than a minute apart to go up 3-1. Patrick O’Neal scored the first, while Matt Gasiuk added the insurance marker with 15:18 remaining in the third. The Colts would not come any closer and Kieran Craig would chip in an empty net goal to seal the home-opener, with a final score of 4-1 in the home team’s favour.
Back in action at home on Saturday, the Hawks took on the Smiths Falls Bears, hoping to put together their first back-to-back wins of the season. Once again, the Hawks found themselves with a 1-0 lead in the first period—once again courtesy of a Colin Stevens goal. However, the patterns continued to repeat in the second, with the teams ending the period in a 3-3 draw. Fortunately for Hawkesbury, the trends held out in full, as their offense again came through in the third for three goals in the first half of the period to take a 6-3 lead. The Bears would score a goal with four-and-a-half minutes left to play, but it would prove too-little, too-late to stop the Hawks from picking up their second win in a row and second victory over Smiths Falls this season. David Jankowski had two goals, while Nathan Innis and Zachary Fournier each picked up a pair of assists. Ryan Donovan and O’Neal also scored for the Hawks in the victory.
With the two wins, the Hawks now have six points on the season, good enough for a second place tie with the Ottawa Junior Senators in the Yzerman Division of the CCHL. The Hawks currently trail the division-leading Rockland Nationals by two points.
Hawkesbury will look to continue its home winning streak on Friday, September 15, when they take on the Navan Grads. After that, on Saturday, September 16, the Hawks will travel to Kanata to take on the Lasers, at the Ma-Te-Way Centre.
