Winning two out of three games in a row this past weekend to close out a five-game homestand was a solid result for the male U18 Pembina Valley Hawks.
After being edged 4-3 by Eastman Friday, the Hawks outscored Interlake 9-6 Saturday before overcoming the Winnipeg Bruins Sunday with a 5-4 shootout victory.
Pembina Valley fell behind 3-1 after 20 minutes against Eastman and couldn’t quite complete the comeback.
Ragnar Gillis, Caden McMahon, and Carson Hiebert on a late power play scored for the Hawks, while shots on goal were 38-22 in favour of the Selects. After giving up three goals on seven shots, Brody Peters was replaced by Koen Bleznuk, who stopped 30 of 31 shots.
Pembina Valley then grabbed period leads of 4-1 and 7-4 while outshooting the Interlake Lightning 50-39.
Ocean Fehr led the way for the Hawks with a pair of goals and four assists, while Tyson Pethybridge also chipped in with a couple of markers. Also scoring for Pembina Valley were Hiebert, McMahon, Parker Henderson, and Cole Secord.
Peters got the win in goal with 33 saves for the Hawks, who also picked up three power play goals.
The shootout against the Bruins went six rounds before Nolan Bravo connected for the winner, while Hiebert and Fehr also connected on their chances.
Shots on goal were a massive 66-36 in favour of the Bruins, so Bleznuk was heroic in making 62 saves. Scoring for the Hawks in regulation were Hiebert, McMahon, Gillis and Eli Jones, and Pembina Valley connected for a pair of power play markers.
The Hawks improved to 25-18-1-1 for 52 points, which has them in seventh place—three behind Southwest and just one ahead of Parkland.
Pembina Valley has a good chance to either solidify their position or perhaps even move up one spot as they close out the regular season schedule this week with three games against the bottom two teams in the league. They played Interlake Tuesday and will face Norman twice this weekend.
