Black Hawks defeats John Bapst Crusaders

4 years ago

HOULTON, Maine — The Millar Civic Center was buzzing with excitement Friday evening as the Houlton-Hodgdon-Southern Aroostook-Katahdin hockey team took on visiting John Bapst. 

Black Hawk Alex Dunn, left, slaps the puck away from John Bapst’s Aiden Dunn during Friday night’s hockey game. The Black Hawks won 3-0. (Joseph Cyr | Houlton Pioneer Times)

The Black Hawks (2-8) showed poise and skill on the ice, skating to an impressive 3-0 victory over the Crusaders. John Bapst dropped to 3-8-1 with the loss.

Jason Collett put the Black Hawks on the scoreboard with a power play goal with 1:28 to play in the first period as he took a pass from Noah Reynolds and slipped it past John Bapst goalie Matthew Bryan. 

In the second period, Gavin Vining scored off another pass from Reynolds with 11:15 to play, giving the Black Hawks a 2-0 lead. Collett struck again a minute later as he gave his squad an extra cushion with an unassisted goal with 10:24 to play.

Black Hawk goalie Elijah Matheson was busy in the net making 36 saves on the evening. Bryan made 20 saves for John Bapst.

With the win, the Black Hawks moved up 11th in the Class B North standings, but still have some ground to make up if the team hopes to reach the postseason. Only the top eight squads qualify for the playoffs, but the good news is the team still has eight games remaining on its schedule to make up that ground.