The Mound-Westonka Boy’s Hockey team headed north to the Minnesota-Canadian border last weekend for games with Warroad on Friday, December 5, and with Lake of the Woods on Saturday, December 6.
On Friday, the White Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead against Warroad 5 minutes into the first period when Riley Horgan stole the puck at center ice, worked around a defenseman, and took a hard wrist shot from the high circle that beat the goalie to the lower right side.
Seven minutes into the second period, the White Hawks doubled their lead to 2-0 when Tanner Botts pushed the puck up to Kirby Horgan, and Horgan took it into the offensive zone and dropped it back to his brother Riley, who put another wrist shot from the slot into the back of the net. But then the White Hawks ran into some penalty problems, and the momentum shifted to the Warroad side. With 4 minutes left in the second period, a White Hawk penalty led to a Warroad goal, closing the gap to 2-1. When the White Hawks took another penalty just seconds later, and then were assessed a second penalty for too many men on the ice, Warroad capitalized and tied the score at 2-2 with just under 2 minutes left in the second period.
In the third period, Warroad dominated the play in the White Hawk end, and finally took the lead halfway through the period on an even-handed goal. Warroad added an empty- net goal at the end of the game, for a final 4-2 victory over the White Hawks. Despite the loss, senior goaltender Dan Swanson had a strong game, keeping the White Hawks in the game until the very end even though Warroad outshot them 30-10.
On Saturday, the White Hawks played Lake of the Woods, and although the White Hawks dominated the play offensively and outshot their opponents 47-17, they ran into a hot goalie and made a couple of defensive mistakes, and had to leave with a 4-1 loss. Just 4 and 1./2 minutes into the game, a defensive turnover in the White Hawk zone led to a quick shot from the right circle that beat junior goalkeeper Aaron Davis on his stick side, giving Lake of the Woods an early 1-0 lead.
In the second period, Lake of the Woods made it 2-0 when one of their forwards held the puck all the way around the net, came out to the circle uncontested, and fired a wrist shot into the net. But halfway through the period, the White Hawks cut the lead in half when Tanner Botts got the puck to Kirby Horgan in front of the net, and Horgan knocked the puck into the net while he was being knocked down on the ice by the Lake of the Woods defensemen.
In the 3rd period, Lake of the Woods took advantage of a White Hawk penalty, and scored on a pretty pass play from the corner to a man in the slot, whose one-timer shot gave them a 3-1 lead. Another empty-net goal to end the game made the final a 4-1 loss for the White Hawks, who on this day collected 47 shots but ran into a Lake of the Woods defense that would bend but not break.
