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BOY’S HOCKEY TEAM SPLITS TWO

By Loren Davis, 02/17/09, 11:38AM CST

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On Tuesday, February 10, the Mound-Westonka Boy’s Hockey team traveled to rival Orono for a rematch with the Spartans. The White Hawks had hung on for a 4-3 win against the Spartans in Mound, and Orono was looking for payback.  It was a great night for hockey, and a great high school hockey game was played. Orono jumped off to an early attack in the first period, and had a few close-in, point-blank shots, one of which was partially blocked by goalie Aaron Davis and literally hung on the goal-line before it was batted away. Orono took a penalty halfway through the period, and another one with less than a minute left in the period, but the White Hawks could not convert, and the score was a 0-0 tie after one. 
 
In the second period, the White Hawks started with over one minute on the power play, and had a couple of more power plays early in the period. But then the White Hawks took a penalty, and after a minute of 4 on 4, the Spartans had the power play. Senior captain Ben Persian took advantage of a White Hawk defensive mistake at center ice, jumped on a loose puck, broke in alone, and fired a shot into the mid right side for a huge 1-0 Orono lead. The Spartans gave the White Hawks 3 more full power play opportunities in the period, but the White Hawk shots came mostly from the blue line, and the Spartans kept the White Hawk forwards away from the front of the net, holding on to their 1-0 lead after two periods. 
 
In the third period, with about 10 minutes left in the game, the Spartans made it 2-0 when their forward took the puck behind the White Hawk net, came around to the front edge of the net uncontested, and hammered the puck home.   The White Hawks could simply not get the puck in the net on this night, despite a total of 9 Orono penalties, and they had to ride home with a tough 2-0 loss.
 
On February 14, the White Hawks hosted the Litchfield-Dassel-Cokato Dragons, and on Saturday, they found the back of the net again. Just 30 seconds into the game, Kirby Horgan pulled the puck out of the Litchfield corner, and slid it to his brother Riley behind the net. Riley passed it to Dan Hoy in front, and Hoy slammed it in for a quick 1-0 lead. The White Hawks made it 2-0 just a minute and a half later, when Riley, controlling the puck in the right circle, fed a perfect pass to Kirby, who was moving in to the center slot, and Kirby fired a one-touch slap shot past the goalie. Just a couple of minutes later, the White Hawks made it 3-0, when Dan Hoy shot the puck to the front of the net, and in a flurry in front, Kirby Horgan slapped at the puck and slapped it in. The White Hawks added a 4th goal later in the first period, when Tanner Botts took a shot from the point that was deflected by the goalie, came off the back boards to the other side of the net, and was punched into the half-open net by Riley Williams
 
Litchfield came out strong in the second period, and scored 2 goals in the first 5 minutes, to cut the White Hawk lead in half at 4-2. But the White Hawks settled down, and got a goal back with 2 minutes left in the period, when Riley Horgan flew up the side with the puck, cut to the middle across the blue line, used the defensemen for a screen, and rifled a wrist shot past the goalie’s pads, for a 5-2 lead after two.
 
In the third period, the White Hawks took charge again, scoring a short-handed goal in the first two minutes when Riley Horgan passed the puck out of the defensive end to Kirby Horgan at center ice, and Kirby took it up the ice, into the right circle, and fired a wrist shot into the upper corner, giving Kirby a hat-trick for the afternoon and giving the White Hawks a 6-2 lead. Litchfield answered with a goal of their own, to cut the lead to 6-3, but the White Hawks finished the game with 4 unanswered goals for a final 10-3 win.   Riley Horgan brought the puck into the offensive zone, and fed it to his brother Kirby in the corner, and Kirby again found Dan Hoy positioned in front, and Hoy again hammered it home (7-3). Matt Pearson fed the puck out of the defensive zone to Colby Kratch breaking into the middle, and Kratch fed Josh Bingham coming up the near side. Bingham carried the puck into the left circle, and fired a low wrist shot under the goalie’s pads (8-3). On a Litchfield penalty with 3 minutes left, Bingham and Kratch were working the puck behind the Litchfield net, and Bingham passed it out to Broc Couser at the point, and Couser’s low shot also slipped under the goalie’s pads (9-3). The White Hawks closed out the scoring with less than one minute left, when Hoy and Kirby Horgan were working the puck behind the net, and it popped out in front of the net. Riley Horgan picked up the loose puck, pulled the goalie out with his stickhandling, and slid it around him for a final 10-3 White Hawk win. In net for the White Hawks, senior Dan Swanson had 25 saves on the afternoon.