The Hawkesbury Hawks have a big week coming up, with three games against teams ahead of them in the Central Canada Junior Hockey League (CCHL) standings, including two against the first place Ottawa Junior Senators.

The Hawks saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end with a 6-5 overtime road loss to the Kemptville 73’s on Sunday (February 5), but the team still picked up three out of four possible points on the weekend and remains in a solid third place in the Central Canada Junior Hockey League’s (CCHL) Yzerman Division. Hawkesbury (22-11-4-3) trails the second place Navan Grads (27-11-3-0) by six points and is 12 points ahead of the fourth place Cornwall Colts (18-19-1-2).

The Hawks will kick off an important week with a home-and-home series against the Junior Senators (31-6-3-1), who sit in first place in the Yzerman Division. Hawkesbury is in Ottawa on Wednesday, February 8, in a 7:10 p.m. start. On Friday, February 10, the Hawks will host the Junior Senators at the Robert Hartley Sports Complex in Hawkesbury. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

On Sunday, February 12, Hawkesbury will host the second place Navan Grads in an afternoon contest that begins at 3:30 p.m. at The Bob.

Hawks dealing with injuries

The Hawks are dealing with some key injuries, including to backup netminder Dekon Randell-Snow, who was injured just two minutes into Sunday’s game against Kemptville. Forwards Ryan Liverman, Remi Gagné and Remi Gelinas all missed both games on the weekend.

“We have four guys out right now,” said Hawks Head Coach and General Manager Marc Bernique. “Hopefully we will get some of them back this week.”

Despite the injuries, Bernique is optimistic Hawkesbury can gain ground this week on Ottawa and Navan – provided the team plays a full 60 minutes in all three games.

“(Ottawa is) the type of team that never gives up – they will play a full 60 minutes,” Bernique observed. “We need to focus on playing 60 minutes – which we didn’t do yesterday – and get back on track.”

“If we show up in Ottawa on Wednesday ready to play, it should be a great game and the rematch at home on Friday should be even better.”

Last week’s games

Sunday, February 5 – Hawkesbury 5 Kemptville 6 (OT)

The Hawks (22-11-4-3) led 5-2 early in the third period, before the 73’s (16-18-4-1) stormed back, scoring three times to tie the game in front of their home crowd at the North Grenville Municipal Centre. Kemptville’s Ty White then completed the comeback by scoring 56 seconds into overtime.

Nathan Gagne and Jakson Kirk each had two goals for Hawkesbury, while Spencer Gallant added a single marker. Kemptville outshot Hawkesbury 55-33 on the night.

Friday, February 3 – Hawkesbury 5 Nepean 0

Alex Fournier, Brandon Clarke, Antoine Dorion, Landon Brownlee, and Aidan Stubbings tallied goals, while Dimitri Pelekos had a 30-save shutout, as the Hawks extended their winning streak to seven games. Nepean, which fell to 10-26-1-3, had a 35-save effort from Joshua Branton in the loss.