There was a nice crowd at our home barn in Carman for tonight's preseason opener against the visiting Eastman Selects. This was the first AAA game for a lot of players on both teams and the positive energy was evident, even during the warm up. 
Eastman got off to a good start outpacing and outshooting the Hawks early on. This was in large part due to a four minute power they received for a head contact penalty. Madison Froese calmed things down for the home team, making several good saves during the penalty kill. Both teams settled in and the pace of the game was quick with lots of tight checking on both sides of the puck. The opening frame ended scoreless. 
The Hawks came out strong in the second period putting a lot of pressure on the Eastman defence. This hard work was rewarded just over six minutes into the period when the Hawks held the puck in at the blue line and a great play by Mackenzie Jeffery to get the puck towards the net resulted in a wonderful redirection by Claire Boyd to get the puck passed the outstretched glove of the Eastman goalie. The Hawks held on to this 1-0 lead and headed to the dressing room after two periods with the advantage. 
As expected, the visitors made a big push to start the third period. The Hawks played hard and despite their short bench, continued to make life difficult for the visitors, by taking away their time and space. Skyla Hildebrand was a gamer moving back to defence and logging big minutes after an injury forced one our four defenders to leave the game early.

Teams traded Too Many Player penalties in the final period, but neither team could capitalize on their power play chance. Eastman came close to tying things up when a quick shot from the point rang off the post behind Kali Hildebrand, but stayed out of the net. In the last three minutes of the game Kali Hildebrand stood tall, making several big saves. Eastman pulled their goalie late in the game, but the Hawks stood their ground and moved the puck into the Eastman zone. A puck over the boards resulted in a face-off deep in the visitor's zone and forced them to put their goalie back in the net. The Hawks controlled the puck from the face-off and ran out the clock with good down low pressure in the Eastman zone. 
The final horn saw the Hawks pour onto the ice to celebrate the joint clean sheet with their two goalies. They then shook hands with visitors before belting out their victory song, "Hey Baby, Will You Be My Girl". 
The next action for the Hawks is yet to be determined as we continue to arrange potential exhibition games for next weekend. Thanks to all of our fans who came out tonight and a special thanks to several U15AAA Hawks alumni who came to cheer your Hawks family on. We appreciate your support!