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Wadena-Deer Creek Still Has Edge on Hawks

By Willie Monteiro, 01/27/12, 10:36AM CST

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In goals against, that is. Wadena is still #1 with 130, but the Hawks are closing in with 123.  I guess that’s not the stat. you want to be a leader in.  Although the Hawks have taken quite a few direct shot goals, first shot saves have actually been pretty good.  Second and third shots off of rebounds have been the real killer. Cooper has also faced a high number of shots.  A virtual paradise for a goalie who wants to see a lot of action.  Angel Hillstrom has been standing tough with a great attitude through most of it while Keegan Husom has seen limited play, mostly in relief. Defensive zone coverage in all five other positions needs to improve in order to stem the bleeding.  Taking major penalties has also been difficult for the struggling Hawks.  They are getting their fair share of experience trying to get through the 5 minute PK. Cooper has been getting one to two of these opportunities per game since the rule changes. If it’s not going well at even strength,…

On the bright side, the Hawks showed some improved offensive play in their 8–4 loss to Spring Lake Park Thursday evening. Captains Joe Lavalier and Dustin Schultz showed leadership by example by scoring three out of the four goals (two for the French-Canadien “Guy” Lavalier & one for Schultz).  Tom Monteiro rounded off the scoring for Cooper. Hayden Gautsche also had a good night working his way into a couple of break-aways that were thwarted by the goalie and the goalie’s best friend (the post).

Cooper has a matinee game against St. Paul Highland park this Saturday at New Hope Ica Arena.  Any hit on the boards is producing a major, so they’ll just have to stay away from that, stay out of the box and see if they can shore-up defensive zone play to try to achieve a better result.