HAGERSVILLE – It took the first period to gain traction, but the Hagersville Hawks got it going with a three goal second period to defeat the Glanbrook Rangers in Niagara District Jr. C hockey action in Hagersville, Saturday night. The win improved their record to 7-7-1-0.
Hawks’ Matt Rimic accounted for two of Hagersville’s three goals on the night to lead his team to a 3-1 win.
Rangers’ Aaron Smith scored the only goal of the first period at 10:08, before Hagersville exploded in the second with goals scored by Derek Friesen on a power play, and two by Rimic, one of them also on a power play.
Picking up assists for Hagersville were Jacob Soloman, Derek Friesen, Cole Martin and two by Nick Sherwood.
There was no scoring in the third period, despite a strong comeback attempt by Glanbrook, outshooting Hagersville 17-5 in the last 20 minutes.
Curtis Dortenzio turned away all but one of the 40 shots he faced in the game, while Jay Payton stopped 33 of the 36 he was forced to deal with.
Sunday night, the Hawks flew into Simcoe to face the last place Storm and came out with two more points as they doubled up on the Storm 6-3 at the Talbot Gardens.
The Hawks took a 2-0 lead on two short-handed goals scored by Derek Friesen at 4:49 and John Monture at 9:29. Brayden Hill and Derek Low assisted.
Simcoe came back in the second period with three unanswered markers to take a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes. The Storm got into the game at 6:24 with a goal by Corson Searles, assisted by Connor McKay. Tyler Arsenault evened the score 25 seconds later from Jamie Kelly and then, at 13:10, Kelly handed Simcoe the lead from Searles.
In a wide open third period, the Hawks responded, starting with Cole Martin’s power play goal from Mitch Green at 47 seconds of the final frame. Brett Dykstra converted a set up from Green and Martin at 6:59, and Friesen connected from Jacob Soloman at 13:06. Mitch Green closed out the scoring at 19:41 into an empty net.
The Hawks are quietly moving up the standings and are now one point behind Niagara in sixth place in the eight team division. Hagersville has two games in hand over Niagara and Dunville and could vault up the standings this coming week.
The Hawks travel to Dunnville this Friday night at 7:30pm before returning home Saturday to take another shot at the Simcoe Storm. Tuesday, Nov. 18th, the Hawks host the visiting Port Dover Sailors.
