Hockey Sweeps Away the Mount, Moves on to the Finals

On the way into Adelard Arena last night, one of the rink employees - having recognized The Network team in their Hendricken gear - said quietly, "Be careful of the Mount, boys. They're a playoff team."

Well, that's undoubtedly true. For the better part of 40 years now, the Mount has shown, time and again, that they are not to be trifled with on the ice when money time comes around. A program with a long tradition of excellence, legendary coaching, and a cast of players with a lot of pride and character, they've seemingly always found a way to win. Having experienced first-hand the most recent example of this character trait last season in the state finals, the Hawks went into Game #2 on Saturday night no doubt not taking victory for granted over this opponent. No way.

The Mount would come to play, and that they did.

Unlike last season's disappointing loss in the finals, however, the Hawks withstood the emotional charge of a desperate Mounties team and won going away on four third period goals, 6-2. With the win the Hawks swept the Mount two games to none in the semi-final round and now advance to the state finals against archrival LaSalle next weekend at Brown's Meehan Auditorium.

As usual, The Network was there to bring live coverage to Hawk Nation, with another full crew in the booth: Cam Brennan, Stone Freeman, Ben Macksoud, "DT" Barron and "DSquill", Darren Squillace -

For the majority of the game, the Mount once again showed that it was not going to go down without a fight. The Mount broke out on top 1-0 early and then again 2-1, but both times the Hawks quickly struck back with the tying goals. Those goals can be seen right here -

With the teams tied at two as they went into the locker rooms at intermission, there was clearly a possibility that the Mounties could find a way to dig deep and to stave off elimination. The Hawks, however, ended any and all hopes for the Mounties with two quick-strike goals with about six minutes remaining in the game, an empty-netter, and a final tally immediately on the heels of that one.

So, once again the Hawks and the Rams will do the rivalry thing with the state title on the line. Game #1 is Friday night at Meehan Auditorium. Unfortunately, The Network will be unable to bring live coverage to Hawks' fans as a result of RIIL regulations. We will have a team there, though, to bring updates via Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube as quickly as we can.