Tag Archives: 2011-2012
2011-2012 All Star Games
The Cambridge Winter Hawks are pleased to announce that captain Ryan Clarke and forward Michael Christou have been named to the GOJHL 2011-2012 Midwestern Conference All Star teams. Josh Timpano has been named as an alternative.
From the Times: Cambridge wins penalty parade
Cambridge wins penalty parade Cam Pentsa’s fight sparks Winter Hawks to victory Hespeler Road wasn’t the only venue for a parade in the city Saturday night. The Cambridge Winter Hawks and the Wesrern Conference’s LaSalle Vipers were marching to the penalty box all night at the Galt Arena Gardens in the final Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League interleague matchup of the regular season for both teams.
Character vs. Talent
One of our players, Anthony Guido, recently tweeted this, “hard work will get you farther than talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” I loved that line when I read it yesterday and that line alone best sums up this year’s version of the Cambridge Winter Hawks. There is no question that there is some very good talent on this team.
A third way through
Well, we have just completed the first third of the season, which saw the boys compile a respectable 11-7 record. To this point in the season special team are holding their own and the guys continue to hone these skills at practice. We have also seen some elevated play from the majority of the players which led to a nice little winning streak. The team also experienced some changes as the month wound down with the departure of a couple players. Scott Mitchell was moved to St. Thomas at his request while in a separate move Robbie Bennett was traded to Elmira for Cambridge native Brennon Pearce. We wish both departing players the best of luck with their new organizations and welcome Brennon to our Winter Hawks family Go Winter Hawks! Mike Down Assistant Coach
Six in a row for Hawks
Six in a row for Hawks The Brantford Golden Eagles probably still don’t know what hit them. Well, the number of that train is six, because that’s what the Cambridge Winter Hawks winning streak is at after dumping the Golden Eagles 5-3 on Sunday during Pink at the Rink at the Galt Arena Gardens. Cambridge completed a three-game sweep on the weekend, beating Listowel 3-2 in overtime Friday and Owen Sound 7-0 on Saturday. The Winter Hawks wore pink jerseys to raise money and awareness for breast cancer on Sunday, but they had Brantford seeing red after coming back from being down 3-0 in the first with five unanswered goals. It was sweet revenge for the Winter Hawks, who coughed up a 2-0 third period lead to Brantford on Oct. 2, before losing 3-2. That seems like years ago now. “We’re on a little bit of a high now,” said Winter Hawks head coach Peter Crosby, who has seen his team start to look like contenders. “We’ve won six games and in that six-game stretch there’s been some big wins and this is a big win tonight. I go back to what I said before, it’s a 51-game season. There’s going to be some bumps along the way and there’s going to be some obstacles and it’s how well we respond to that.” Crosby admitted that Sunday was an example of that. As the Winter Hawks had a jittery first period, coupled by a rare of night by Lucas Machalski, to go down 3-0 after 20 minutes. “We didn’t have our best effort in the first period tonight,” said. “The guys answered the bell and came back in the second period, and finished them off in the third. “Every single kid in that dressing room is a character guy.” After Mike Riley, Jeff Swift and Ryan Blunt chased Machalski from the game, the Winter Hawks got some solid work from Brendan Gorecki, who extended his shutout streak to 105 minutes, 75 seconds. The comeback started just 47 seconds into the second period on a power play, when Gratton went top corner on a rebound past a diving Bryce O’Hagan. Three minutes later on another power play, Anthony Guido snuck in from the point to take a Tyler Snyder pass at the far side of the crease and bang it past O’Hagan. The Winter Hawks caught a break when Jeff Swift looked to get the puck in the net before it was pushed off by Michael Christou, but the goal was disallowed and there was no penalty on the play. That left the door open for Christian Barnard, who tied the game on a shorthanded breakaway. Christou got the eventual winner at 6:19 of the third, the Winter Hawks fourth straight power-play goal, when a clearing pass bounced off the side of his helmet and he beat the Brantford defence before snapping a shot over O’Hagan’s blocker. After having trouble solving O’Hagan in their last meeting, the Winter Hawks seemed to have his number on Sunday. “I think I can speak for all the boys, I think he looked like a block of Swiss cheese in that net. I’m not going to lie,” Christou said after the game. “But we had a slow start and then in the second and third period we battled back hard, and we deserved that win. Our team beat their talent.” Christou added that the team is starting to play the way they’re capable of. “I think we’re actually believing in the system now and we’re just going, and we’re having fun doing it. “It seems like we’re getting the job done. We’re not a finesse team so we just go out and do what we do night in and night out, and we’ve put together a pretty good streak now. You don’t get lucky winning six in a row.” Scot Mitchell finished off the scoring, taking a pretty drop pass from Gratton before sliding through the skates of O’Hagan. Against Listowel, Ryan Clarke, Christou and Guido scored for the Winter Hawks. Against Owen Sound, Andrew Coupland had two goals, while Clarke, Gratton, Christou, Snyder and Taylor Doering had one each. The Winter Hawks are in Stratford Friday at 7:30 p.m., before hosting Waterloo on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Galt Arena Gardens. Courtesy of the Bill Doucet at the Cambridge Times. See the original article here.
From the Times: Complete wins for Hawks
Complete wins for Hawks Tyler Snyder did all the little things right. The just turned 18-year-old Cambridge Winter Hawks forward was at his best during Saturday’s 6-0 win over the Kitchener Dutchmen, blocking shots, potting a goal and killing penalties. He also added a bang-on impersonation of former Winter Hawks Kyle Helms, knocking 30 seconds off a penalty by working the puck along the boards against three Dutchmen. But what will people remember most from Snyder’s night? Probably his failed attempt at an open net near the end of the second period when the Winter Hawks could have added on to their 4-0 lead. With Cody Gratton in the penalty box for roughing, the Dutchmen pulled goalie Mario Duscio for a 6-on-4 advantage to try to put a dent in the Winter Hawks’ lead. Snyder managed to get loose and was in a foot race with a Kitchener defenceman for the open net. He put on the brakes to go around him and the puck bounced away. You could practically hear the groans from the Winter Hawks bench. So what happened? “I don’t know,” Snyder said, trying to cover his laughter with the towel hanging around his neck. “I just turned my head and I just lost the puck. It skipped up; I’ll get it next time.” Even head coach Peter Crosby couldn’t resist taking a shot at Snyder. “Snydes had an awesome game. We just have to work on the open net shots for him,” he said with a smile. And there were grins all around the Cambridge dressing room as the team dominated the Dutchmen for 60 minutes and helped Lucas Machalski earn his first Junior B shutout. The fact that they also held onto the 4-0 lead, despite some deficiencies in that area a couple of weeks ago, also put the team in a good mood. “We put up a good performance and closed them out,” Snyder said. “That was something we weren’t doing earlier in the year, but we stepped it up and got the win.” Snyder certainly stepped up his game against Kitchener and his tenacious style of play, along with linemate Lawrence Pagnan, kept the Dutchmen at 0-for-5 on the power play. He’s also a player who knows his role and accepts it. “I’m just a fourth line guy and I just go out there and play defensively, try not to get scored on and my line tries to chip in every once in a while. It’s what I do to have my spot,” he said When Snyder can add to the offence, that’s a bigger bonus. He did get a hometown bounce on his goal, as he put the Winter Hawks up 2-0 when his shot on a 2-on-1 rush with Lawrence Pagnan was stopped, but deflected in off a Kitchener player. Ryan Clarke also scored twice for the Winter Hawks, while Gratton, Brandon Zimmerman and Christian Barnard – on a pretty passing play with Cameron Pentsa – had singles. The Winter Hawks took momentum from that game and used it to beat previously undefeated Elmira 5-3 on Sunday. Courtesy of Bill Doucet at the Cambridge Times. See the original article here!
Character
What a weekend! 3 games in less than 3 days seemingly. The guys came away with 2 wins and very close to a third win vs. London as well. One word describes their effort this past weekend and that word is….CHARACTER! In order for any team to be successful it must be able to show and demonstrate character. That word – character - comes in different forms.
From the Times: Hawks never gave up
Hawks never gave up Two losses not as bad as it seems for Winter Hawks It’s a weekend the Cambridge Winter Hawks will lock away in the vault. Though they went pointless with a 7-5 loss to Stratford on Friday and were defeated 4-1 by Elmira on Saturday, the games produced something just as valuable for the Winter Hawks – they learned they could play with the best teams in the league. Considered the two top squads in the Midwestern Conference, Stratford and Elmira threw everything they had at Cambridge, only to see the Winter Hawks fight them right to the end and keep the games close. And the Winter Hawks learned what it will take to beat top level teams.
From the Times: New excitement in Hawkeytown
New excitement in Hawkeytown Doucet’s Dugout There seems to be a new attitude around the Galt Arena Gardens this season. Though we are just one game into the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League campaign, this year’s Cambridge Winter Hawks team looks to have a new attitude. Since the Winter Hawks made it to the Cherrey Cup finals a year after their back-to-back Sutherland Cups, they have won a grand total of four playoff games. And because that didn’t come in the same season, they haven’t made it past the first round since that 2008 league final matchup against Elmira. The Winter Hawks are looking to change that this year. Now, no one is predicting a Sutherland Cup already. This isn’t Stratford, where the parade route is marked when training camp opens. But this year, there seems to be a bit more fire on the team. Facing a bruising Guelph squad on Saturday – obviously not the same team they beat 10-0 in exhibition play – the Winter Hawks came back after being down 3-1 in the second period to win 6-4. Last year, at times, that deficit might as well have been 10-1, as the Winter Hawks weren’t very adept at coming back. Even when Guelph tied the game 4-4 after Cambridge had taken the lead, it just seemed to give them more fire. That hasn’t been seen around here since those Sutherland Cup teams, where, no matter what the score, the team was never out of it. Could this team make some noise? Well, two years ago the Winter Hawks got off to a flying start before the Elmira incident, where players where told to stay on the players bench for the second intermission and wear their equipment for the bus ride home. There was mixed reaction among fans about head coach Ryan D’Arcy’s ploy, but it seemed to backfire as he not only lost the players, but was fined and suspended by the league. When D’Arcy relinquished the coaching duties later in the season, Paul Jennings wasn’t the answer. Last year, general manager Ken Jeysman did his best to get a competitive team together after almost everyone left during the offseason. But Pat Conklin never seemed to get the team going and some of the players were already thinking about the offseason when Jeysman took over the reigns just before Christmas. Unfortunately, last year’s Winter Hawks had a collective of individuals instead of a team. The players where that was evident aren’t in Cambridge jerseys this season. As stated before, only Game 1 of 51 has been dealt with. But a telling tale of a new attitude was an interview after Saturday’s game with new acquisition Michael Christou, who said that a lot of teams used the word family to describe their team. In Cambridge, the way he was accepted, the meaning behind family was evident. So time will tell with this Winter Hawks team if they will go through a wall for each other. Sure, there will be ups and downs and no one expects them to go 51-0, but they may just bring some excitement back to the old barn. Last year’s tagline, created by Jeysman, was, “There’s a new team in town”. This season, how about, “There’s a new attitude in town”. Courtesy of Bill Doucet, Doucet’s Dugout at the Cambridge Times. See the original editorial here.
From the Times: Furlong traded
Furlong traded Former Cambridge Winter Hawks goalie Colin Furlong was traded late last week to Guelph for cash. Last season, Furlong was 11-11-1-1 with a 4.29 gga. Furlong dressed for the Hurricanes on Saturday as a backup to Taylor O’Keefe. Courtesy of Bill Doucet at the Cambridge Times. See the original article here.
