Black Hawks take a ‘giant step’

The youthful Houlton Hodgdon Black Hawks took a giant step forward last Saturday, according to their coach Joel Trickey, as they picked up a 6-4 victory against Class A Skowhegan at Sukee Arena in Winslow.
“The game provided plenty of excitement for the large contingent of fans that made the long trek to mid Maine,” added Trickey.
    The first period saw the Black Hawks come out of the gate strong and take a 1-0 lead just 54 seconds into the game on Brandon Ward’s unassisted marker. Jimmy Fitzpatrick finished an end-to-end rush by slipping the puck past the Skowhegan goalie at the 4:56 mark, with an assist going to Cole McLaughlin. Lucas Grant upped the lead to 3-0 just a minute and a half later, assisted by Fitzpatrick and Gage Hunt.
Shots on goal were pretty even with Skowhegan holding the one-shot advantage, 10-9.
The second period saw the teams trade goals with the Black Hawks netting a pretty unassisted tally, according to Trickey, by Alex Donovan and giving up a power-play goal. The Black Hawks had to defend four short-handed situations, but still managed to come up with seven shots on net, while holding the Indians to nine shots.
The third period started with an energized push by Skowhegan to get back in the game. The Black Hawks fended off all attempts until Skowhegan pulled within one goal, with just over nine minutes to play.     “This goal gave the Indians some momentum,” said Trickey, as Skowhegan tied the game just a minute and a half later. With the tide seeming to turn, Skowhegan pressured the Black Hawks. A Houlton-Hodgdon “dump in” put the Black Hawks back on top.
Donovan chased down the puck behind the Skowhegan net and calmly found Ethan Nickerson in the high slot. Nickerson banged the puck to the top corner, giving the Black Hawks the lead. The goal came just one minute and 12 seconds after the game was tied and deflated the Indians’ intense pressure, noted Trickey.
With just 2:40 left in the game, the Black Hawks concentrated on protecting their lead and dumped the puck deep in the Skowhegan end setting up a neutral zone forecheck to slow their opponent’s attack. Skowhegan pulled their goaltender with about two minutes left and Brandon Malone picked up a pass at the top of the circle in the Indians’ end. He deposited the puck in the empty net to seal the Black Hawks’ victory.
“This game could possibly be a big step in the growth of the younger players on this team,” Trickey explained. “The last four goals came off the sticks of some of our less experienced players; this seems to show that they’re coming into their own.”
The Black Hawks lost a key defenseman to an upper body injury halfway through the game and Alaina Stewart stepped in and gave us a solid effort in his place, said Trickey.
“We had intense effort from all involved for the entire game,” he said. “Hopefully, this will be a stepping stone to a very good finish to the season. We’ve had trouble putting two focused efforts together because of the inexperience of this team.”
Tonight the Black Hawks play at the Millar Civic Center against Presque Isle.