HAGERSVILLE — Since December 1st, the Hagersville Hawks of the PJHL Jr. C’s, have been streaky, to say the least, but the streaks seem to be going the right way lately. After loosing to Hamilton 4-1 on Nov. 29th, something happened. December 1st, the Hawks rebounded with a 10-0 win against the Niagara RiverHawks.
But that was followed by a 5-0 shutout loss against the Glanbrook Rangers, a 3-2 loss to the Port Dover Sailors, and a 3-2 loss to the Grimsby Peach Kings.
Then the tide suddenly turned again, this time in the Hawks favour starting with a 4-2 character win over the top ranking Rangers, on Dec.19th., a 3-2 win over the Dunville Mudcats, a 2-1 win over the Sailors, December 29th’s 8-0 shutout over Shamrocks in Hespeler and a 4-1 win at home over the Shamrocks; a five-game winning streak the Hawks hoped to make six in Hagersville against the Mudcats, January 5th.
That mission was accomplished with an exclamation point as the Hawks rolled over Dunnville, 7-0.
The winning streak has moved the Hawks into third place in the South Bloomfield Division of the PJHL Jr. C, with a bullet. The team is playing with confidence and grit after a less than great season start this season and are getting great goaltending from Justin Easter.
The Hawks are 17 wins, 13 losses, two ties and two overtime losses for 34 points going into this week’s games.
Ralph Taggart (17G,18A) leads the Hawks with 35 points followed closely by Nick Visser 17G, 17A) with 34 points, and Matt Weston (13G,17A) with 30 points.
Eighteen-year-old Justin Easter has also been solid in the Hagersville nets since joining the team 22 games ago. Since then he has won 11 games, lost eight and tied two, with five shutouts so far this season.
The Hawks hope to continue their torrid pace against the Niagara RiverHawks with the first really big challenge so far in 2019. Niagara is currently in fifth place, only three points behind Hagersville who have played two games more.
