Black Hawks end season; ready for playoffs

The Houlton-Hodgdon Black Hawks finished up the regular season last week with a pair of victories, giving them a 15-3 regular season record.
On Friday at home, they held Senior Night, honoring the seven seniors and two senior managers along with their parents. They followed up the ceremony with a 7-0 win over Orono. Then, the Black Hawks traveled to Brewer to take on Hampden in the regular season finale on Monday, coming away with a 4-1 win.
    The game last Friday against Orono was played in front of a full house with the Houlton High School band providing a festive atmosphere with their always entertaining and professional sound, said Black Hawks coach Joel Trickey.
For most of the first period, the Red Riots held their own, but with 3:57 left in the period Dylan Gard opened the scoring, assisted by Parker Sanderson. This opened the floodgates as the Black Hawks hit for four goals in a minute and 33 seconds to put the game away. Ian Gervais, Logan Holmes and Ben Ward tallied goals, with assists going to Cody Briggs and Sanderson. Malik Abouleish stopped five shots to keep Orono off the board.
The second period was one of the Black Hawks best of the year as they held Orono without a shot on goal. Kam Lincoln and Gard put up markers, with assists going to Gard, Gervais and Sanderson. With a 6-0 lead after two periods, the Black Hawks concentrated on getting Abouleish his Senior Night shutout and though Orono put seven shots on net, Abouleish turned back every one to pick up the shutout win, ending with 12 saves.
On Monday, a sluggish Houlton-Hodgdon team posted a 4-1 win against Hampden. The Black Hawks struck early in this match as Gervais scored just 42 seconds into the game, assisted by Sanderson. Holmes tallied at the 13:15 mark giving the Black Hawks a 2-0 lead after one.
In the second the Broncos cut the lead in half and the two teams entered the third period in a tight 2-1 game. Sam Fitzpatrick gave Houlton-Hodgdon some breathing room at 2:51 of the third period on a nice setup by Jordan Russell. The rest of the third period saw back-and-forth action with Abouleish standing solid in net. With the Hampden goaltender off the ice for an extra attacker, Jimmy Fitzpatrick scored his first varsity goal, sending the puck from behind his own goal line all the way into the Bronco net, sealing the Black Hawk win.
“The kids really came out strong on Senior Night showing the packed house what they are capable of doing when they’re focused and ready to play,” said Trickey. “It always helps to have a large crowd and I can’t say enough about the energy that having the band playing gives the team. With that kind of play, we have high hopes for our playoffs.
“Our game against Hampden was a very slow affair,” Trickey explained. “We didn’t seem to have the energy we showed against Orono, but we’re sure that will not be the norm for the next three weeks. The kids have been really focused on preparing for the playoffs and with two weeks to ramp up our stamina and sharpen our team play, we truly think we have as good a chance as anyone in the East to be playing in Lewiston for the state crown.”