Black Hawks to face rival Wildcats

The Houlton-Hodgdon Black Hawks picked up two wins and a loss to No. 1 Brewer last week to give them an 8-5 record for the year. They sandwiched a 6-2 win over John Bapst and an 8-2 win over Old Town around the 7-3 loss to Brewer.
    The game against John Bapst saw the Black Hawks start quickly, as they potted three goals in the first period for a 3-0 lead. Ben Ward started the scoring just over four minutes into the game, with assists going to Cody Briggs and defenseman Jordan Brown. Ian Gervais made it 2-0 with line mates Dylan Gard and Logan Holmes picking up the assists. Holmes finished the first-period scoring, with assists going to Gervais and defenseman Jared Tapley.
The second period saw the Black Hawks let down a bit and Crusaders tallied the only goal of the period making the score 3-1. In the third, the Black Hawks again took the offensive and netted three more goals before a late marker by John Bapst for the final score.
Black Hawk goals came off the sticks of Ward, Gard and Briggs, with assists going to Tapley and fellow defenseman Jake Peabody. Malik Abouleish had 17 saves in the win and the Black Hawks put 25 shots on the John Bapst goalie.
Against top-seeded Brewer, the Black Hawks gave one of their best efforts of the season in the loss. The Witches only outshot the Black Hawks by a 25-23 margin, but just 30 seconds of play made all the difference, as Brewer scored four goals in the second with two coming directly off faceoffs.
The first period saw Houlton-Hodgdon take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Briggs, with assists to Ward and defenseman Brown. Brewer tied the score with 3:25 left in the period to make it 1-all after the first period of play.
The Black Hawks took the lead just 13 seconds into the second period on Briggs’ second goal of the game, with assists from Ward and Peabody. Brewer then struck for the next four goals and the Witches took a 5-2 lead into the locker room.
In the third period, the teams traded goals at the start of the period with Brewer scoring at the 14:29 mark and Nick Chase answering just over two minutes later assisted by Ward and Briggs. A late goal by Brewer made it a four-goal loss.
The game against Old Town saw the Black Hawks take a quick 2-0 lead with Sam Fitzpatrick picking up the first goal assisted by Jordan Russell. Russell then made it 2-0 with his first Black Hawk goal. The Coyotes countered, but the Black Hawks added two goals by Briggs in one shift to make the score 4-1 after one period. Assists went to defenseman Brandon Ward and Chase.
The second period saw the Black Hawks quickly add to their lead as linemates Gard and Gervais scored on the same shift., with assists to Peabody and Holmes. Parker Sanderson tallied to make it 6-1 after two periods of play. The Black Hawks emptied their bench just four minutes into the period and goalie Abouleish was replaced by Avery Kibler with six minutes left in the period.
The third saw a fairly even period and each team tallied one goal. The Black Hawk marker came off the stick of Gard unassisted and Kibler made six saves on seven shots to seal the win. The Black Hawks held the shot advantage, 38-14.
“These last three games were all very important for us,” said Black Hawks coach Joel Trickey. “The two wins have given the team confidence that they can play very well and take the games they are suppose to win, but more importantly, we found that we can play with the best teams in the loss to Brewer. We played very well in all three games and against Brewer we learned a lot about our abilities and desire to compete.
“We think that if the kids can build on this week we will be in a very good position going into the playoffs,” he added. “Barring a total collapse we should be in the thick of things once the playoffs start possibly hosting the preliminary game.”
The Black Hawks last home game is next Tuesday night against local rival Presque Isle and it is also Senior Night.
“This should be a very exciting contest as both teams are pretty equal and most of the matches between us are close, fast and intense,” Trickey said. “The team would appreciate a big turnout for this important game. You won’t be disappointed.”