Golden Hawks starting to soar

By Lethbridge Herald on January 30, 2024.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Val Matteoti Golden Hawks U15AAA hockey team are  hitting their stride as of late and are getting rewarded with climbing up the standings.

The Hawks are sitting in sixth place after going having a record of 3-0 in recent games, where they’ve outscored their opponents 24-9,and have a 6-3-1 record in their last 10 games.

“Even before Christmas, we started to kind of find some chemistry as a team, (and) kind of find out what it takes to be successful and kind of found our groove a little bit there,” said Mitch Maxwell, Golden Hawks head coach.

“Yeah, (in) these last three games, we’ve obviously been scoring at a higher rate than we have,  and our powerplay and penalty kill have been amazing, we’ve been getting to the dirty areas and I think we’ve just been putting in more whole team efforts for 60 minutes.”

Consistency has been key.

“The last little bit, we’ve been consistent and that’s paying off and giving us some success,” said Maxwell.

“That’s kind of our message right now is just kind of preaching that consistency and we hope we can keep that momentum rolling into this weekend.”

The success in that 10-game run has helped in a tight South Division.

“(That) obviously helps a little bit to climb up and try to catch some teams above us and the reality is the South is very tight,” said Maxwell.

“The Flames have kind of ran away with first a little bit. But other than that, from two to seventh, is very tight. Every time we play one of those teams, it’s been really close, good games, and so it makes it very fun, makes the South very competitive, and I think overall it’s just  making us a better hockey team and more prepared for hopefully a little bit of playoff push.”

The Hawks have seen a  strong o powerplay and penalty kill and have been getting good goaltending as of late.

“So, obviously to win, you kind of need to put all those things together,” said Maxwell.

“But in the end, I think it comes down to just us being a positive team and a team that works for each other and finds some consistency.”

Positive energy, team first mentality and be resilient is what the team has been preaching  in being successful.

The Hawks picked up two home wins this weekend after an 8-6 win over Airdrie on Sunday and a 5-1 victory over the Calgary Bisons on Saturday.

Lethbridge is 11-9-0-2-1 overall and find themselves two points out of fifth and four points out of fourth.

In other AAA action, the U18 Hurricanes  team split their weekend contests after a 7-2 win over the Calgary NWCAA on Friday and a 5-2 loss at the Airdrie Bisons on Saturday.

The U17AAA Headwater Hurricanes tied the Calgary Bisons 4-4 in their lone contest on Saturday.