Tag Archives: Doucet’s Dugout
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.
