The Winchester Hawks welcomed the Ottawa West Golden Knights to the Joel Steele Community Centre on Fri., Jan.31, in the CCHL2. The Hawks forward, Colby Schroeder (6) gets pushed by the Golden Knights defenseman, Geronimo Whiteduck (21) as the puck lies in his skates. The Hawks had a rough night against the Golden Knights dropping the game 7-2 for their fourth straight loss.  Moore photo

ATHENS—The Winchester Hawks played a pair of games this past weekend as they welcomed the first place Ottawa West Golden Knights on Friday night and travelled to Athens to take on the league’s last place Aeros.

Hawks 5 Aeros 2

The Winchester Hawks travelled to Centre 76 in Athens on Sat., Feb. 1, to take on the Aeros in the CCHL2. The Hawks went into the game in fifth place in the Martin Division, trailing the Casselman Vikings by eight points and had dropped four consecutive games as they looked to end their skid. The Aeros have had a dismal season with a horrendous record of 0-34-1-1 for just two points in the Richardson Division. 

The Hawks opened the scoring at 5:41 of the first period, as Kyle Fleming sniped his 15th goal of the season from Nolan Guertin and Ryan Nielson taking a 1-0 lead. The Hawks made it 2-0 when Eric Vitale fired home his 25th of the season from Noah Fraser and Nielson at 9:56. 

Vitale scored his second of the game and 26th of the season from Fraser at 17:36 giving the Hawks a three-goal lead. The Hawks took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. 

Vitale completed his hat trick scoring his 27th of the season at 2:32 of the second period from Guertin and Garrett Craig on the power play giving the Hawks a 4-0 lead. The Hawks made it 5-0 when Logan Schmidt pounded home his second of the season from Colby Schroeder and Guertin on the power play at 10:04. 

The Aeros got back in the game scoring a pair of unanswered goals at 18:27 and with 22 seconds remaining in the middle frame but trailed 5-2 heading into the second intermission. The teams battled to a scoreless draw in the third period, as the Hawks picked up their 18th win of the season ending their four-game skid. 

The Hawks outshot the Aeros 53-23. Picking up the win in the Hawks’ goal was Lucas Devries making 21 saves.

Golden Knights 7 Hawks 2

The Winchester Hawks welcomed the Ottawa West Golden Knights to the Joel Steele Community Centre on Fri., Jan. 31, in the CCHL2. The Hawks went into the game in fifth place in the Martin Division, six points behind the fourth place Casselman Vikings.

The Hawks opened the scoring when Nolan Guertin slapped home his fourth goal of the season from Marco Haw in the first period; the goal slapped in on the power play at 9:29 to take a 1-0 lead. The Golden Knights knotted the affair at one at 11:13 in the power play and took their first lead of the game at 12:52. 

The Golden Knights took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The Golden Knights owned the second period scoring three unanswered goals at 6:32, 12:13, and 15:32 on the power play. The Golden Knights took a 5-1 lead into the second intermission. 

The Hawks got to within three as Danny Johnson ripped home his 13th of the season from Kyle Kuehni on the power play just 45 seconds into the third period. The Golden Knights retook a four-goal lead at 10:20 and closed out the scoring with 2:46 remaining in the power play. 

The Golden Knights took the game 7-2 handing the Hawks their fourth consecutive loss heading down the stretch. The Golden Knights outshot the Hawks 58-34. Suffering the loss in the Hawks’ goal was Cole Defazio making 51 saves.

Up next

The Winchester Hawks welcome the Char-Lan Rebels to the Joel Steele Community Centre on Fri., Feb. 7, at 8:15 p.m. and travel to the Billy Gebbie Arena in Alexandria on Sat., Feb. 8, to take on the Glens at 8 p.m.