The playoffs came to an end last week for the male U18 Pembina Valley Hawks as they lost their best of five quarter-final series in three straight games to the Winnipeg Wild.
After a 9-2 loss in game one Feb. 28, the Hawks made it closer but still dropped game two March 2 by a score of 3-2 in overtime before being edged 4-2 in game three last Wednesday.
“At the end of the day, we had some injuries,” noted coach Jeff Andrews. “We were kind of playing a little beat up in the playoffs, and we played a really good team.”
Games two and three were close, and Andrews felt they could have easily gone the other way with another break or two.
“We had our chances. In a tight series like that, when you get the opportunities, you’ve got to cash in, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that, and they found ways to score when they needed to.”
He was happy with the power play, which was clicking at about 30 per cent, as well as the penalty kill, which was at about 80 per cent.
“We just needed more secondary scoring, and we needed to get a couple breaks,” he said. “I’m happy and proud of the guys with how they pushed it and made it a good series.”
In game two, the Hawks were just barely outshot 44-43. They scored early in the third period to tie things up before giving up the game-winning goal at 1:46 of overtime.
Tyson Pethybridge and Carson Hiebert scored for Pembina Valley, while Koen Bleznuk had a good effort in goal with 41 saves.
In game three, the Hawks fell behind 3-1 after 40 minutes. They then drew within one in the final frame before Winnipeg sealed the victory with an empty net goal with 27 seconds remaining. Hiebert scored both of the Pembina Valley goals on power plays, and Bleznuk made 23 saves as the Wild held a 27-25 edge in shots.
Andrews thought they had a pretty good season overall.
“There were lots of improvements,” he said. “For me, it’s nice to see some of those new players take a big step forward, and I think that will be huge for us moving forward, to get some of those guys who were new to the program this year to see how they develop over the summer and move forward and push to fill big roles with our hockey team in the future.
“Overall, I think our defensive game is something that we really need to have the guys buy into and embrace so that we give ourselves a chance to win every game.”
Andrews concluded there is good potential for next season with a solid core of returning players.
“It’s huge when you can get some returning guys and have those guys take a big step forward and push to be difference makers next year. You’re always going to add young players, and it’s going to take a little bit of time for them to adjust and figure things out. That’s one of the things that we always have to deal with each year.”
