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Ice Hawks open season with 5-4 victory

Oct 7, 2011 | 11:19 PM

It wasn’t the prettiest of home openers for the Prince Albert Ice Hawks, but they started off their PJHL campaign 1-0 beating the Ochapowace Thunder 5-4.

At one point in the second period, the Ice Hawks had a 4-0 lead but a slew of penalties in the second allowed the Thunder to come back into the game, scoring three goals in the last seven minutes of the period and headed into the third down 4-3.

“I thought we played really well 5-on-5 and we executed what we wanted to do but we got in trouble… on penalties,” said Ice Hawks head coach Trevor Gunville. “They’ve had two games under their belt and this was our first one so guys and I think the guys were a little up tight.

“We came in after the second period and we talked about getting back to the things that were working for us in the first and just sticking to our systems and going out and trying to outshoot them and get pucks to the net.”

The Ice Hawks came out with a stronger third, staying out of the box and a goal from assistant captain Brandon Juravinski midway through the period, the eventual game winner.

Thunder forward Everett Bird scored his second of the game with 15 seconds to draw the game closer at 5-4, but the Ice Hawks held on late to their first victory of the year.

Although the Ice Hawks started their season Friday, Thunder came into the game with a 2-0 record with a 5-1 win over the West Central Rage and a 5-4 shootout win over the Saskatoon Quakers.

Gunville admitted his team gripped their sticks a little tight but said that had more to do with it being their first game of the season as opposed to the Thunders’ record.

“I don’t think so, every team in this league can beat every team,” said Gunville. “We’re the type of team that has to play 60-minutes a night or else we’re going to get into these type of games were they’re really tight, really close and can go either way.

“I didn’t think we played well in the second, so we just have make some adjustments next practices and go forward.”

Gunville says his team will focus on both their power play and penalty killing units, as well as their cycle game in the offensive zone.

Tyler Gordon got the win for the Ice Hawks in goal, stopping 28 of 32 shots. Nicholas Carrol suffered the loss for the Thunder, stopping 21 of 26.

Jordon Daniels had a pair of goals for the Ice Hawks while Jody Blais had a goal and two assists. Mitchell Corfmat also scored for the Ice Hawks.

The Ice Hawks are back in action on Sunday against the Southern Rebels. The puck drops at 3 p.m. at the Kinsmen Arena.

jdandrea@panow.com