It was a tough week for the MWHS boys hockey team with two defeats the first week of the new year. Tues. Jan. 4 the MW hosted the undefeated Litchfield Dragons. Fri. Jan. 7 the boys played Holy Family at the Victoria Rec Center.

The game against Litch started out slowly with both teams playing a little ragged. There was no flow in the 1^st period until with three minutes left MWs Jack Brandstetter rang a shot off the post. Just over a minute  later at 15.14 White Hawks junior David Bingham scored when the Brady boys, (Jack,Blake) broke out of the MW zone down the right side with Blake sliding a nice pass from the ½ board  to a breaking Bingham down the slot for a 1-0 MW lead after one.

The 2^nd period was scoreless  with few scoring chances and only two penalties, both to the Dragons. With 4 min. left in the period MWs Bingham was robbed by the Litch. Netminder  with a glove save from  a close in shot that would have extended the White Hawk lead.

At 8.31 of the 3^rd MWs Alex Bakke and Charlie Hales dug the puck out from the corner back to the right point where defenseman Will Griffith ripped a high slap shot into the back of the Dragon net for a 2-0 lead.   A minute and a half later Litch. Scored on a tip in after a feed from the corner of the MW zone.   Late in the period the White Hawks took a tripping penalty and the Dragons pulled the goalie for a 6 on 4 skating advantage.  MW was unable to clear the zone and lost the lead on a screen shot from the blue line into the lower right corner of the MW net.  The Dragons wasted no time in ot  when team leading scorer Andy Haatja won the game with a goal 1.03 into the extra  frame. Final Dragons 3 White Hawks 2.

At Holy Family , the Fire opened the scoring  early at 3.27 of the 1^st after pressuring  MW for about 30 sec. on a feed from behind the MW net.  Neither team could gain momentum  with each side taking three 1^st period penalties with the White Hawks skating two  men short at one point for 55 sec. At 11.09 MWs Riley Williams took a pass from Blake Brady and scoring a pp goal by banking the puck off the goaltender with a shot from the corner of the offensive zone.  End of the 1^st, MW 1-HF 1

The White Hawks had the advantage for most of the 2^nd  with MWs Matt Pearson hitting the pipe on a hard slap shot during a MW  power play early on.  The White Hawks could not find the back of the net and at 13.10 the Fires Shane Gersich  scored the go ahead goal. Just under two minutes later HF took a two goal lead on a Sam Stenson goal after a White Hawk defensive zone turn over.

MW cut the lead to one at 6.18 of the 3^rd on a power play goal by senior Charlie Hales, with assists by Alex Bakke and Joe Graphenteen.  Hales scored a gritty goal digging at the puck in front of the HF goalie off a Bakke shot until the puck crossed the goal line.  The rest of the third MW was unable to tie the score and fell to the Fire in a hard fought game 3-2.

Next for MW,  Hutch. At home Tues. Jan. 18 and at Waconia Thurs. Jan. 20