News

Although losing 6-5 in overtime, the Smiths Falls Bears showed a ton of character on Tuesday night as they battled back from a 4-1 first period deficit to the Hawkesbury Hawks at the Bears Den.

The two teams had split the first 4 games of the regular season heading into Tuesday night. The Bears struck first as Scott Gervais's (Ashton ON) point shot banked off the back boards and into the net off of the Hawk's goalie Jacob Standen. The rearguards 3rd goal of the year was assisted by Kris Lalonde (Almonte ON) and Brian Bygrave (Stittsville ON). It was all down hill from there as the Hawks took advantage of some key Smiths Falls turnovers. Charles Levesque, Zachary Fournier, Levesque again & Cooper Sande scored before the game was 20 minutes old to give the Hawks a commanding 4-1 advantage. Hawkesbury outshot the Bears 16-8 while taking 2 of the 3 minor penalties handed out in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Smiths Falls came out with a more determined approach in the 2nd period after Brad Dobson (Moose Factory ON) made some key saves to keep his team in the game. The Bears began to gain some offensive momentum. Nic Coates (Smiths Falls ON) scored his 10th goal of the year on a powerplay to make the score 4-2 in favour of the visitors at the 4:38 mark. Kyle Dowdall (Perth ON) and Ethan Coltart (Kanata ON) set Coates up with the Bears enjoying the man advantage. Cole Busschaert (Kingston ON) netted his 20th marker of the year with his linemates Alex DiCarlo (Niagara Falls ON) & Marc Shannon (Hamilton ON) getting the assists at 9:38 to draw the Bears to within a goal of the Hawks. Hawkesbury had a 17-13 advantage on the shot clock as the Bears took 3 of the 4 minor penalties handed out.

Kyle Dowdall tied the game at the 4:32 mark of the 3rd period when his wraparound beat Standen. The goal was Dowdall's 3rd of the campaign. At 9:06 of the 3rd period, Busschaert finished a 2 on 1 passing play with Shannon to put the Bears up 5-4. Hawkesbury pulled their goalie with less than 1:30 remaining in the game and Chris Smith scored to tie the game. Hawkesbury again outshot the Bears 17-9 with the Bears taking 2 of the 3 penalties called.

The Bears had the best opportunities in the overtime period as Standen robbed Busschaert with a desperation save. The Bears were called for high sticking with 21 seconds remaining in the extra time. With a 4 on 3 advantage Domenico Argento scored with 13 seconds remaining to earn the Hawks the win. The Bears outshot the Hawks 5-2 in the 4th period and took the only minor penalty called.

Bear Facts

Powerplays    Bears 1-4    Hawkesbury 1-7

Penalty Totals    Bears 14 minutes on 7 infractions    Hawkesbury    8 minutes on 4 infractions

Shots     Bears 35    Hawkesbury 52

Game Length    2:20

Attendance    160

3 Stars

1st Star    Domenico Argento (Hawkesbury)

2nd Star    Charles Levesque (Hawkesbury)

3rd Star    Brad Dobson (Bears)

Next Game    The Bears play their last game of 2016 Friday night at the Bears Den as they host the Kanata Lasers before taking a Christmas break.