Lacrosse season has arrived and the Huntsville Jr C Hawks have set the tone: they’re here to win.
The team hosted its home opener on Saturday, April 28 in the Jack Bionda Arena versus the Clarington Shamrox.
Lacrosse fans were in the stands to cheer on the new Hawks team and to bring the spirit of winning back to the Jack. “I was impressed with the good crowd that showed up,” said Coach Karl Carnduff. “We as a coaching staff, are trying to teach our players how to win, which isn’t as easy as it sounds, when you have been on the losing end of most games in the past few years. (Saturday night) was a good start.”
Clarington got in two early goals in the first 10 minutes of the first period. Visiting spectators made comments that Huntsville was no match for Clarington, but the Shamrox goals did not shake the Hawks. The boys were quick with their feet to slam in two goals minutes apart to it tie up.
The game became increasingly physical with a few penalties, power plays and a brief scuffle in front of the Hawks net. The refs called some holding and roughing penalties but missed a few head shots and sticks to the neck as spectators yelled from the stands.
The first period ended with a third goal by the Hawks in the last minute of play bringing the score to 3-2. The Hawks casually walked off the floor, their confident body language signifying that they were there to win.
After a quick rest and game chat, the Hawks took the floor to again score on the Shamrox only two minutes in to the second period. Clarington fought harder to get past the Hawks defense and scored to close the gap to 4-3. The teams would each take one more to bring the score to 5-4 halfway through the second, but with only minutes left in the period, Clarington would tie it up 5-5. The Hawks were not thrilled, giving some body shots as they fought to get the ball back in their play.
More physical contact resulted in two players, one from each team, being ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The third period was just as intense and fans for both teams watched and cheered from the edge of their seats. The Hawks scored the first goal of the third to take the lead 6-5 with a penalty drawn on both teams. It was four on four and the Hawks were able to score again to lead by two. The Shamrox responded with one to once again close the gap to one.
Some hard hits and penalty calls not made had players along with coaching staff very heated, but the Hawks had to focus on the win and they pulled together as a team. “Lots of praise for our man-short crew. We rotated five guys throughout the evening, and I thought they were the difference in the game,” said Coach Carnduff.
The last minutes of the game saw Huntsville whip in another goal to earn a two-goal stretch, 8-6, making it harder for Clarington to catch up. The Shamrox called a time out with 1:23 left to try and make a plan, and pulled their goalie when they returned to the floor. Huntsville managed to keep control of the ball and run it down the floor with seconds to spare to score on Clarington’s open net and win their home opener 9-6.
The Hawks win it!
“Offensively we got some timely goals, especially from our captain Shea Greenaway, and we will only get better in that end of the floor,” said Coach Carnduff. “Our defense had a couple lapses, but they hung in there extremely well. And our goaltender Evan Peltier was great throughout the game. We are going to build on the effort and look forward to take our game up a notch, as we host the Barrie Bombers on Thursday.”
Help #packthejack on May 3 at 8:00 pm for the next Hawks home game. (See the 2018 team roster below.)
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Jr C Hawks 2018 roster:
G – Tyler O’Neill
G – Cole Clarke
G – Evan Peltier
2 – Caleb Creasor
3 – Cody Purvis
4 – Shea Greenaway
5 – Tyler Arnott
6 – Dylan Lawrence
7 – Evan Dickson
8 – Kyler Campbell
9 – Matt Allen
10 – James Munro
11 – Chris McLaughlin
12 – Ross Johnson
13 – AJ Campbell
14 – Dalton Boothby
15 – Frank Longo
16 – Jack Drinkwater
17 – Matteo Nobile
18 – Duke Knox
19 – Cooper Ludlow
20 – Mitchell Jones
21 – Marshall Clarke
22 – Colby Thur
23 – Zachary Greening
24 – Sam Stewart
26 – Matt Delabbio
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