Minor atom AE Hawks second at Georgetown 'Best of the Best' tourney

The Caledon RBC Royal Bank South Hill Hawks placed 2nd in the The Best of the Best tournament in Georgetown over the Thanksgiving weekend.

The preliminary round saw the Hawks finish atop the pool standings with a 2-1 record.

The opening round game was a tough 2-1 loss to the Hamilton Phantoms, on a controversial goal that was allowed to stand despite an apparent whistle by the referee. The lone goal for the Hawks was scored by Dylan Frail.

Despite the loss the team rebounded to sweep their next two games against Ajax and tournament host Georgetown, avenging losses to both teams 2 weeks earlier.

The Hawks shut out the Ajax Knights 5-0 with sound defence and goaltending, and the right touch of offence. The line of Dylan Proulx, Morgan Pace and Michael Karrangus led the team with 3 goals and six points including Proulx's hat trick on nifty assists from Pace and Karrangus. Nicholas Martel opened the scoring for the Hawks with his first goal of the year and chipped in an assist on the team's final goal as he set up defenceman Jonathon Ferguson whose wrist shot from the blue line found the back of the net.

Josh Thompson earned the shutout with some key saves.

Needing a victory against Georgetown Raiders to advance to the finals, the team did not disappoint as goaltender Julia Patella stole the show with some terrific saves limiting the Raiders to a single goal.

With the game tied at 1-1 late in the third period with Martel's opening minute tally the only score for the Hawks, the team scored 3 goals in 1:07 late in the 3rd to salt the game away, as a goal by the Proulx, Pace, Karrangus line started the rally with Pace flipping the puck into the open net with assists to Proulx and Karrangus. Mark Guaragna finished off the rally with a pair of goals; one a nifty pass from Frail.

Facing the Phantoms in the final the team came up short 4-2 in a closely fought battle.

Down 3-1 early in the 3rd period Brandon Covre banged the puck into the net off some hard work by Austin Pope and Rocco Marianaccio. However, that was as close as the Hawks would come as Hamilton scored a late goal to make the final 4-2.

All in all, the tournament represented some great strides forward by this group of minor atoms AE Hawks.