Black Hawks open season against Orono

by Staff Pioneer Times
14 years ago

The Houlton-Hodgdon Black Hawks opened their season last Saturday traveling to Orono to take on the preseason favorite Red Riots at the Alfond Arena.
The team is led this season by a group of seniors that includes defensemen Jimmy Fitzpatrick, Cole McGlaughlin, D.J. McGary and Alaina Stewart, along with forwards Brandon Ward, Eugene Ivey and Alex Donovan. Juniors Brandon Malone, Gage Hunt, Lucas Grant, Ethan Nickerson and Alex Casillas will play important roles this season along with sophomore forward Cam Clark and sophomore net minder Payton Porter.
The contest with Orono ended with the locals on the short end of a 6-1 score, but the game was much closer than the score indicated. The action was back and forth with the Black Hawks actually out-shooting the Red Riots 29-28. The difference in the match, according to Black Hawks coach Joel Trickey, was Orono’s experience as they put 12 seniors on the ice, including two transfers from Old Town that were all-stars last season.
The first period saw Orono score twice, as they outshot the Black Hawks by a 13-7 margin. The start of the second period caught the locals unprepared as the Red Riots scored off the opening faceoff to put the Black Hawks in a 3-0 hole. Orono struck for a late goal to take a 4-0 lead after two.
The third saw the Black Hawks score early as Hunt potted his first varsity goal on a quick release from the high slot with the assist going to Grant. Orono scored two more times in the third to make the final 6-1 in favor of the home team.
“Despite the final score, our opener gave us a good idea that we will be very competitive this season,” said Trickey. “We played one of the top teams in the league fairly even and most of the Orono goals came on very fixable mental errors that possibly came from the excitement of our first game. One of the bright spots we are bringing from this game is there is going to be improvement in our play and the team is working very hard to make themselves better players and stronger skaters.
“We’re looking forward to making the playoffs this season and hopefully if we do get in we’ll be able to have a nice run,” added Trickey. “These kids are one of the hardest working groups we’ve had and that alone bodes well for the season.”