As is the norm in these Hendricken-Mount hockey games, it went down to the last seconds. Rarely do we ever see a blowout in this classic high school hockey series, dating all the way back to the 1980's and the days of Gaudreau, Emma, and King and the standard-setting five-game championship series in 1987. Nothing may ever come close to that series, but last night was as well-played and contested a hockey game that a fan can reasonably expect to see.
In a game broadcast live right here on The Network, the Hawks' Reilly Miller slipped one past the Mount goalie at 13:54 of the second period, and that proved to be the only difference in the Hawks' 1-0 win. Unfortunately, the fans watching at home had the unbelievable misfortune of not having the opportunity to see Miller's goal, as we had some maddening wi-fi issues in the booth, which, as far as we could determine, must have been on Ustream's end. Everything that we had connected checked out. So, if you watched the game and missed the goal, we both apologize and have it right here:
Viewers can still watch the tail-end of the game in the central viewer at the top of the page, and the rest of the game (minus the wif-fi interruptions, of course) can be seen here:
Video streaming by Ustream
Video streaming by Ustream
Video streaming by UstreamTruth be told, while the game was very well-played, it is that last segment (top of the page) that is the most exciting. As pointed out, it was a very cleanly-played game with zero penalties assessed until the 4:41 mark of the final period, when the Hawks' were whistled for an infraction and Mount went on the only power-play of the game. As the Hawks were trying to kill off the two minutes and Mount was desperately trying to get one past Matt Kenneally (24 saves), Cam Brennan very astutely pointed out from behind the mic that it appeared that the Mount may have been considering pulling their goalie with about one minute left on their advantage, because that would have given them a six attackers-against-four defenders advantage in the Hawks' zone. It certainly would have been an incredibly risky move, but those closing minutes would have been even more tense. As it turned out, the Mounties never had the opportunity, because our guys managed to clear the puck when they had to.
During the final minute of the game Mount did pull the goalie, but to no avail as the Hawks held on.
So, coupled with their 5-2 victory over Burrillville on Friday night, the Hawks secure the top seed in the coming state playoffs, the schedule for which has yet to be announced. The box score from the game against the Broncos can be seen here:
From here, then, it's on to the playoffs and a chance to defend the title....and The Network will be there with as much coverage as we can muster.
