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Published - Oct 28th, 2009
By Ben Forrest
Honouring the past – The 1971-72 Exeter Hawks were honoured at the South Huron Recreation Centre Friday. The team was the first in Hawks history to win an Ontario championship. Seen above is capain Larry Haugh (centre), dropping the puck for current Hawks player Tim Bilcke (left) and Brian McClinchey of the North Middlesex Stars. The 1971-72 team was chauffeured ontot he ice in two stretch limousines. (photo/Ben Forrest)
EXETER – The first Exeter Hawks team to win an Ontario championship was honoured Friday before a packed house at the South Huron Recreation Centre.
The 1971-72 Hawks, who stormed through the playoffs to win the OHA Cup in 1972, were chauffeured onto the ice in two stretch limousines, and assembled on red carpet in a ceremony preceding a game between the current Hawks squad and the North Middlesex Stars.
It was a moment celebrating a high point in the team’s history, but the game that followed was not one for the record books.
Exeter lost 3-0 to the Stars, one of three recent losses that dropped the Hawks from a tie for second place in their division to fourth place.
The other two losses were suffered Oct. 21 against the Lucan Irish (a 2-1 decision) and Sunday against Delhi (6-4).
“Against Lucan and (North Middlesex) we played awful,” said Hawks coach Jeff MacLean. “We just didn’t work hard. We weren’t willing to win the battles with the puck, and resulted in two losses.
“So it was disappointing. We didn’t come to play both those games, that’s for sure.”
Exeter’s Thomas Harnett opened the scoring against Lucan, notching a power play goal near the 15-minute mark.
Lucan’s Nick Engel evened the score roughly 3:30 later, leaving the game tied 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Lucan’s Chris Read scored the winning goal with eight minutes expired in the second period.
Irish goalie Steve Inglis had 26 saves in the victory, while Exeter’s Gregg Dodds had 30.
North Middlesex out-hustled the Hawks in Friday’s game, scoring one goal each period en-route to victory. Dodds had 31 saves in the effort, while Stars goalie Aaron Bedard had 36 saves in the shutout.
The game against Delhi was an improvement in MacLean’s eyes.
“We worked really hard,” he said. “We still lost, but yet we worked hard, and made some progress. That was a good sign.”
Exeter’s Steve Gingerich opened the scoring with just under five minutes gone in the second period, but Dehi scored three quick goals to pull ahead.
Hawks players Sam Jongeneel and Chad Hackett each scored late in the period to even the score.
Exeter’s Brandon Babbage put the Hawks ahead early in the third period, but Delhi closed the game with three unanswered goals to ice the victory.
“I’ve been stressing all year that we’ve got to work hard every single night, and it caught up with us,” MacLean said. “We’re kind of back to square one here – (a) .500 (record) – and we’re going to move forward and improve.”
Things do not get easier for the Hawks in their next two games: they face first-place Mt. Brydges Friday and third-place Lambeth Sunday.
“They’re the front-runners in our division,” MacLean said of Mt. Brydges. “They’re the team everybody’s chasing right now, so they’re going to be our toughest game to date.
“We’re going to have to work hard and play a full 60 minutes, and our power play has got to start working. It’s been dismal, and it’s got to get better.”
MacLean said the team will likely work on battle drills in practice this week.
“It will be a lot of interaction amongst the players,” he said. “It’s going to be a high tempo and there’s going to be a lot of battles for pucks.”
MacLean said the team wished to apologize to the Hawks organization, the team’s 50th anniversary committee, and the 1972 championship team for the current team’s effort against North Middlesex.
“We recognize all the hard work they put in, and we didn’t as a team hold up our end of the bargain,” he said. |
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