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White Hawks Put Out Fire

By Laker Correspondent, 02/08/12, 1:00PM CST

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 There was only one game scheduled last week for the Mound Westonka boys high school hockey team and it was a gem. The boys faced Holy Family Tuesday, January 31 at the Victoria Rec Center in a rematch of a December 6-2 White Hawk victory.

Both teams played tight defensive hockey for the first nine minutes of the game with neither team getting many quality chances at the net. The Fire did hold the territorial advantage for several minutes and M.W. held the Holy Family forwards to the outer edges of the defensive zone keeping the high powered Fire first line off the scoreboard. The White Hawks drew first blood at 10.16 of the 1st when Will Griffith fired a shot from the right point and Mitchell Spanjers gathered up the rebound in the left corner. The senior shot the puck off the H.F. goalie creating a loose puck in the low slot area. Alex Bakke found the back of an open net for a 1-0 White Hawk lead. At 15.21 Charlie Curti bounced a shot off the pipe from the left point narrowly missing a second M.W. goal. The period ended with both teams getting scoring chances in tight at both ends of the rink.

The 2nd period started out much like the 1st when the Fire bottled up the White Hawks in the defensive zone not letting our boys past our own blue line. The White Hawks gained momentum and at 10.07 of the 2nd   David Bingham skated the puck out from the right faceoff circle firing a high backhand at the Fire net minder creating a rebound 5 feet out in front of the crease.  His linemate Spanjers skated in from the left side and fired a hard shot into the goaltenders glove. The momentum of the puck carried the glove over the goal line with the puck in his glove for a 2-0 M.W.lead. 13 seconds later, Hunter Smith tapped in a loose puck in the Fire crease off a rebound of a tipped shot by Curti from the right point with Bakke getting the other assist and looked like H.F. was in trouble. The Fire gained their composure when a five minute major to the Fire and two minors to the White Hawks created a 4 on 3 Holy Family power play.  The result was the Fire’s first score in the game. Less than two minutes later at 12.10 the Fire scored again with both teams skating 4 on 4. Holy Family came close to tying the game at three late in the 2nd on a clean breakaway with M.W. goal tender Andy Seats making a crucial big save. The Fire outshot our boys 23-13 thru the first two periods but did not get many second chances with Seats controlling the rebounds extremely well all night.  At the end of the period the White Hawks held a 3-2 lead.

Early in the 3rd, the Fire tied the score at 1.45 and it was game on for the final 15 minutes of the contest. The home team nearly took the lead at 4.05 ringing one off the M.W. goal pipe. White Hawk junior Jeremy Schulz scored what turned out to be the game winning goal at 4.43 finding yet another White Hawk rebound in front the H.F. net. Schulz placed a low shot on the ice in the corner of the net with the assists to fellow juniors Tanner Palm & Ben O’Borsky. Holy Family would ring one more shot off Andy Seats pipe at 7.20 but the junior turned away 35 of the 38 fire shots on goal in the game. Late in the 3rd at 16.00 the Fire coach pulled the goalie and our boys controlled the puck on the boards smothering any chances for H.F.  to tie the score.  Seats played his best game as a White Hawk and was the unofficial star of the game. The 4-3 final was a BIG win for the White Hawks. The boy’s record is now 14-8 after four wins in a row. Two games remain on the schedule. A road game Valentine’s day at Waconia and the final home game of the season at Thaler Arena on Saturday, Feb. 18 with Orono at 1pm.