Yakety yak, Hawks are back ...
And nearly pitch perfect in 9-0 win over Lakefield
Posted By Terrance Gavan
Posted 2 months ago
I can name that tune in three notes.
Depth, speed and savvy.
The tune? Call it Red Hawks hockey.
It's still early in this Kawartha Hockey League season, but so far the lyrical Hawks have been nifty, nimble, and nearly pitch perfect.
In the parlance of old '60s radio, the Red Hawks are number 1, with a bullet – tight as a John Mayer solo, precise as a Tim McGraw lyric, and sound as Neil Peart's ripped triplets. The Rush is on.
On Monday night at the old Dysart barn the Red Hawks hockey team popped onto their favourite frozen stage and channelled their inner Oscar Peterson, assembling an eye-popping array of juke, jive, and jazz on the way to an impressive 9-0 win over the Lakefield Tigers.
In two games this season the Hawks have scored 17 goals and given up only one in return. (In their first game of the season they beat Brock High 8-1.)
Monday night it was a question of some usual suspects finding their niche.
Ashton Haley had a breakout game, leading all scorers with two goals and three assists. It was one of those games that coaches love to see.
According to Hawks' coach Ron Yake, it was a question of a young player, possessed of palpable promise and loads of talent, playing within himself, and finally finding his groove.
"Ashton is a great hockey player and he'll do well as the season wears on," said Yake of his emerging young talent.
Yake said he never had a doubt about Haley's charismatic presence and light hands.
"Oh yeah, it was good to see him on the score sheet," said Yake. "But look, he had a good game last week as well, and I know he'll do well this year. He's one of the guys we're going to rely on to have some success in big games."
Several other Hawks followed Haley's hit parade. Brett Yake had three goals and an assist, Brandon Yake scored twice and added an assist, while Greg Clements and Carson Roberts rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece. (Brett notched the eventual game-winner just two minutes into the contest.)
Now don't expect too much in the way of comment emanating from Yake the elder regarding the stellar play of his two sons.
Call it the "dish and shovel factor." When the snow's piling up and the sink's full, it's best not to have the hired help thinking dad's a pushover.
To be fair, Yake did manage a smile when Brett and Brandon's names came up in the post-game scrum. "We had some guys step up in this game and that's nice to see," said Yake.
Drew Paul was a steady back-ice presence adding three assists, and he and Matt Rae contributed significant and steady defensive play to seal the deal on a Paddy Manuge shutout victory in his first start of the season.
Meanwhile Mark Vasey, Ian Bottum, and Cole Rowden contributed two assists apiece, while Scott Griffith added a single helper.
Not surprisingly, with that all-round contribution, Yake said that it's the depth of this team that really has both he and assistant coach Gary Brohman quite excited about the rest of this 2009-10 season.
Too early for optimism?
Yake said it's way too soon to tell, and with games upcoming against Fenelon Falls on Thursday (Nov. 26), and back at the old Dysart barn against Holy Cross on Monday (Nov. 30), the true timbre of this team will be tested severely in the next seven days.
"Fenelon, well, they have a pretty good team, and Holy Cross is always right there," said Yake.
But there's something in the quiet smile that tells the listener that Yake has an inkling that this is a squad that could do some damage down the road.
He peruses the score sheet deliberately. Then looks up and smiles.
"We have three lines who can all score, and three lines who all move the puck," said Yake. "And our defense is solid."
But Yake admitted that Lakefield presented a bit of a problem for the Hawks. The Tigers are a very young team with a lamentable lack of depth. They were clearly overmatched and out of their element on Monday, playing against a much older and experienced Red Hawks ensemble.
The refs thankfully invoked the league mercy rule allowing the final five minutes to tick quickly in straight running time.
Yake said that after leading 4-0 after one period, and 7-0 after two, the coaching staff asked the players to take the foot off the pedal for the final frame. He said that they also used the last half of the game to work on a zone trap; a tactic intended to slow the freewheeling pace of the game.
"It's hard to play a game with a lead like that," said Yake. "We got a chance to work a little on the trap and we tried to refine that a little bit, and it all helps with the defensive concept of the game, which is important. We did move the puck well, and these are tough games because you know the checking's not quite as tight."
He gave full marks to his players who did manage to rein it in during the latter stages of the game. "In a game like that I was proud of their ability to maintain their concentration and their positional play."
On Tuesday it's back to the drawing board.
"We'll continue this week to work our power play and penalty kill," said Yake. "We'll work on reinforcing some of the habits we want to instill in the players."
You know how this goes. You get to COSSA the same way you get to Carnegie Hall.
"Practice, practice, practice."
