Macdonald leads Skyhawks over Eskimos(updated)

Skyhawks forward Neil Macdonald (#47) parks himself at the side of the net waiting for a pass. Photo by Todd Vandonk.

Power plays were the story in a 6-2 victory for the Skyhawks Sunday night at Memorial Gardens versus the Abitibi Eskimos. In what seems to be the trend in hockey circles everywhere, this game looked like many NHL exhibition contests with many crackdowns on obstruction and infractions behind the play.

The Hawks came out strong getting 13 shots in the opening period. Esks goalie Frank Agostino stood tall making many acrobatic saves. Howevern, he did not have the all the answers on this night. Aaron Assinewai opened the scoring on the power play with a wrist shot from the slot that went top shelf in a hurry. Abitibi couldn’t seem to muster much on offence getting just 2 shots in the period.

Scoring and excitement picked up in the second as Skyhawk Neil Macdonald struck just 2:38 in putting in a rebound from a scramble in front of the net. Macdonald would prove to be a force and power play specialist as just minutes later he finished off a great passing play on the man advantage to put the home side up three.

"I think its improvement," Macdonald said after the game. "It takes a bit for the guys to gel and I think we’re doing that very well and I think it showed tonight."

The Hawks would take a stranglehold on the game, again on the power play, at 14:10 of the second when Brett Venasse took a wrist shot from the point that found its way through a screen.

Hawks coach Kevin Kerr put it simply after the game, "It’s amazing what happens when you decide you want to shoot the puck and you want to work the power play that we’re supposed to work."

Abitibi showed that they did have some life late in the second when Tyler Scott made it 4-1. Breaking the trend of the game, the Hawks would answer shorthanded, when Justin Roy hit Quinn Waller with a beautiful pass as Waller streaked to the net and tipped in what was the key goal in the contest.

"I’ve been preaching to Wally about driving the middle lane." Coach Kerr said. "It was a great pass by Justin Roy, it was a hard working goal for Quinn, and a shorthanded goal to boot." It would prove to be the only even strength goal of this contest.

What made that goal key was the fact that Eskimo Darren Smith answered back just 14 seconds later.

North Bay simply shut things down in the third but there was one last bit of
business to take care of. Neil Macdonald put in his third of the game to finish off the hat trick.

"When you’ve got big guys like Dustin McCrank and Ian Carlson in front of the net, and finishers like Assinewai and Macdonald finishing tonight you get good results." Kerr said of his team’s effort.

Ryan Douglas got the start between the pipes for the Hawks and was sharp when called upon. It wasn’t often seeing only 15 shots.

When asked if he thought that the many penalties may be a ripple effect from the NHL crackdown Kerr replied, "To be honest with you I think tonight they were a little bit undisciplined and we took advantage of it."

Attendance was solid again just like the home opener as the announced attendance was 2493.

With the victory the Skyhawks even their record to 2 wins and 2 losses on the season. The Hawks will now hit the road for three games starting with a stop in Northern Michigan to play the Black Bears Friday night. The next home contest will be October 9th versus the Eskimos.

By Jacob Robinson