The Houlton-Hodgdon Black Hawks finished the season with a win and two losses to make their final record 5-13; just missing the playoffs by less than a point in the Heal Point standings.
On Feb. 13, the Black Hawks took on Hampden at the John Millar Civic Center and came out on the short end of a 5-2 score. Goals for the Black Hawks came off the sticks of Gage Hunt and Lucas Grant, with assists going to Brandon Ward and Jimmy Fitzpatrick. Black Hawks goalie Payton Porter faced 30 shots.
The Black Hawks had trouble generating offense, as they only had 20 shots on the Bronco goaltender.
The Black Hawks took on number-one seed Messalonskee on Feb. 16 at the civic center. While the team played one of its most complete games of the year in this contest, the Eagles took the game by a 6-1 score. Ward scored the Black Hawks’ only marker with an assist going to Hunt. Porter faced 40 shots and the Black Hawks put 23 shots on the Messalonskee netminder.
In the final contest of the year the Black Hawks took on Winslow and this proved to be one of the more exciting contests of the season. The Black Hawks spotted the Black Raiders a first-period goal but came back in the second to take the lead on two goals by Brandon Ward. Assist on the first goal went to Alex Donovan and Fitzpatrick, while the second goal was unassisted. Winslow answered to tie the game late in the period, but defenseman Cole McLaughlin gave the Black Hawks the lead again with 48 seconds left in the period, assisted by Fitzpatrick and Hunt.
The third period was hard fought and the Raiders tied the score at the 3:22 mark. The action was intense for the remainder of regulation, said Black Hawks coach Joel Trickey, but neither team could score the game-winner. The Black Hawks had a goal disallowed and hit the post in the final minutes.
In overtime there were several good scoring chances and it looked like Fitzpatrick had the game-winner but once again the goal was waved off. With just 2:40 left in the game, Ward took charge and skated the puck to the Winslow goal, firing it past the goaltender to give the Black Hawks a victory in their final game of the year.
“This was somewhat a frustrating season for everyone involved with the Black Hawks,” said Trickey. “If we had just had a couple more good bounces of the puck, we would be in the playoffs. The kids worked hard to be the best they could be this year and the returning players should have a firm grasp of what they have to do to win at the varsity level.
“I’d like to thank all the kids for their efforts this year, but most of all I’d like to give a special thanks to the seniors and wish them luck as they go out into the world after graduation,” Trickey added. “Hopefully some of the lessons they learned in their time with the Black Hawks will serve them well in their future endeavors.”
