Hawks vs. Highlanders
The Hawks returned to the Spencer Family YMCA for the first time in the 2023-2024 season on October 19 against Baldwin.
Baldwin scored around halfway through the first period, but after that, it was all Hawks en route to an 8-2 victory.
The Hawks’ scoring was opened up by senior Kylan Bedner, who scored late in the first period to get the Hawks rolling.
In the second period, sophomore Erik Husa and sophomore Jack Hartman scored their first varsity goals to put the Hawks up 3-1.
Then, senior Anthony Karner rattled off two straight goals to put the Hawks up 5-1.
The Hawks headed into the third period up 5-2 after Baldwin scored a late goal with 10 seconds left in the second, but the Hawks were all but done.
They finished up their dominant performance with a goal from senior Ryan Tierney and two goals from senior Doug Hartman.
Hawks vs. Panthers
After a convincing win at home, the Hawks sat atop the league with a record of 3-1 heading into a huge rivalry game with Upper St. Clair.
On October 23, the Hawks hit the road to Ice Castle to battle with the 2-1 Panthers.
The first period was a back-and-forth battle with the Hawks striking first.
Senior Will Alborg opened the scoring with 3:22 left in the first.
That is where the Hawks’ momentum stopped though, as Upper St. Clair controlled the play the entire second period scoring two goals and holding the Hawks to only three shots on goal.
The two teams headed to the break with the score 2-1 Panthers.
Early in the third period, USC drew a penalty. which gave the Hawks the chance to take the momentum back. They did just that with a power-play goal by junior Vince Klingensmith.
Sadly, the Panthers regained the lead a few minutes later with a power play goal of their own.
The rest of the third period was highly physical and went back and forth the whole time.
In the final minute, the Hawks pulled their goalie in an attempt to tie the game up and head to overtime.
They did just that with another goal by junior Vince Klingensmith with 36 seconds to go. The teams headed to overtime with the score tied 3-3.
Overtime was extremely uneventful until a defensive breakdown by the Hawks left a USC player wide-open in front of the net.
The Upper St. Clair player made no mistake, putting the puck in the net and securing the extra point for the Panthers.
