Hawks sitting in usual perch atop MMJHL standings

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/12/2010 (5757 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If life under a new head coach has been a struggle for the Charleswood Hawks this season, they’re doing a good job of hiding it.

Since Stephen George took over behind the bench of the two-time defending MMJHL champions, the Hawks have been nearly unbeatable.

After losing their season-opener to the Fort Garry/Fort Rouge Twins, Charleswood has ridden an 18-game winning streak to the top of the standings.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m surprised,” George said. “The players have really responded well. For me, when you have most of the group coming back that helps with the transition.”

The majority of the club’s roster is unchanged from last season, with the notable exceptions of forward Colin Hekle and defenceman James Iwasziw, who are now playing for Arizona State University.

Dillon Smith, the Hawks’ captain, said this year’s batch of rookies has helped fill the gaps.

“We lost a couple key players, but we had two great goalies coming back,” said Smith, a 19-year-old defenceman from Charleswood who has 21 points in his second season with the Hawks. “I’m not too surprised, especially with the coaching we have. Everything is rolling.”

Whether you’re looking at the league standings or the stats leaderboard, there’s always a Hawks logo (or two) at the top.

Linemates David Walker and Eric Beaudin are first and second in scoring, with 30 and 29 points respectively, while their centre, Shaun Corbett, is seventh in the league with 21 points.

“It’s a friendly thing,” said Beaudin, a 20-year-old third-year Hawk from Headlingley. “We both want to be in the top-two more than one of us winning it.”

Meanwhile, the Hawks have been alternating every game between Mitch David and Daniel Cloutier in goal. David leads the MMJHL with a 1.59 goals-against average, while Cloutier (2.22) is third.

No matter which way you cut it, these guys are good — which means George’s biggest challenge may be convincing his players that no trophies are handed out with more than two dozen games left until the playoffs.

“The way our team operates is we take each game as it comes,” he said. “We don’t look at our record now and see ourselves in the finals or winning the championship. We know there’s a lot of work still to be done.”

The Hawks know they can expect every opponent’s best effort, which helps keep the team sharp.

“There’s been a few games lately where haven’t brought our best effort and we still squeaked out wins,”

said Walker, a 21-year-old from Charleswood. “We’ve learned that we need to be focused on every game.”
Smith said the Hawks have beaten some of the league’s weaker teams with a lackadaisical showing. But games against their primary rivals have been a different story.

“A team like St. James, they’ll dump and chase and hit everything in sight to frustrate us,” Smith said.

“Against the Twins, who I think are our top rival, the intensity in the rink and in the room is very high.”

avi.saper@canstarnews.com