Sailors - Sailors lose home-and-home to Hawks
A third-period collapse and some tough luck resulted in an 0-for-2 home-and-home for the Sailors against the Mitchell Hawks.
Tuesday night, the Sailors looked like the team who shook off the turkey best, leading the Hawks 1-0 going into the third period, on the strength of a Josh Martel goal (assist Brandon Priestap). The Hawks snapped to life in the third, starting offf with two goals in the first minute of the third. That was all it would take, as the Sailors couldn't score again, but the Hawks addded two more to make the final 4-1.
The Sailors were short-benched for Friday's rematch in Mitchell due to injuries and vacations, but the game turned out to be a much more back-and-forth, entertaining affair. Mitchell lead 1-0 after one period, before Ben Gowing's goal off a feed from Brandon Howald evened the score. The Hawks jumped ahead on a suspect goal that many thought was directed in by a high stick, but the Sailors again evened the score on a goal by Spencer Aspden, assisted by Josh Martel. Despite many chances and a few posts, the Sailors couldn't convert a third goal, and Mitchell added two more to make the final 4-2. Steven Wilken returned to the Sailors' net after a few games out with injury, and put in a solid performance making 34 saves in the loss, many of the challenging variety.
The Sailors have the January 6-8 weekend off to run their rec hockey tournament, but return to action Saturday, January 14 vs the Kincardine Bulldogs at the MRC. Puck drop is 8:00pm.
