Sheridan Hawks Split Road Games Vs. Rapid City; Prepare For Home Games Vs. Great Falls

The Sheridan Hawks split road games this past weekend at Rapid City.

On Friday, the team won 6-zip, thanks to 4 goals from Zach Longnecker.

The newcomer from Minnesota says it was time for him to change up his attack strategy.

“I was putting up points, but not the ones I wanted and the team was playing great, my line was playing great, so I just kind of switched up my game, got kind of creasy and pucks popped in for me and got a couple of goals.”

On Saturday, Sheridan lost 4-3 in overtime as the opposition scored the winner with 9 seconds to go.

Hawks Head Coach J.J. Sanatagata explains what went wrong.

“We just let a couple of bad mistakes get into the back of our net and that’s what happened. You let up 2 goals in the first period and both goals were off of basically our mistakes and you lose in overtime by 1 goal. Those are the difference makers and we’re trying to preach to the guys that simple mistakes matter. Attention to detail is extremely important and hopefully we just improve for this weekend.”

The team is back at home this weekend vs. Great Falls, which is a team they played one month ago.

Coach Santagata says the Americans are not a team to be taken lightly.

“We know that Great Falls is going to be an extremely difficult heavy physical floor checking team that is never going to quit. They beat Helena last week. They beat the Frasier Cup Champions 3-2 last week. While in order they did lose 6-2 just last weekend. It doesn’t matter. You know that team is capable of beating any team in this league and we have to come out and play our best hockey. Can’t take shifts off, can’t take periods off, can’t just play 5 minutes and take 5 minutes off. We know they’re going to be in our face for the entire week. I’m expecting probably the best Great Falls team that we’ve seen all year.”

The puck drops this Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm.

Weekend Recap Vs. Rapid City:

An offensive barrage including four-goal performance from forward Zach Longnecker fueled the Sheridan Hawks rout of the Badlands Sabres 6-0 on Friday at the Roosevelt Park Ice Arena.

Entering the contest, Longnecker didn’t have any goals on the season in six games, but that changed quickly and emphatically, achieving a hat trick with three consecutive goals, two in the first period and one in the second.

Longenecker capped off the day with his fourth goal coming four and half minutes into the third period, the Hawks last score.

Goals were also added to the tally in the 2nd period by Elijah Farris and Vincent Leaf.  

While Longnecker was scoring left and right, Sheridan goalie TJ Wonnacott kept things tidy in the cage for the Hawks, recording his first shutout of the season, saving 36 shots on goal.

The victory for Sheridan kept with the successful theme the Hawks have been playing up to early in the season, moving up to first place in the Frontier division and the league with 12 points in 7 games.

Saturday night things didn’t go quite as well for the Hawks, as they went on to an overtime loss in a hard-fought contest against the Sabres in the second game of the road trip series. 

The Hawks struck first three minutes into the game with an early, and the Hawks only, power play opportunity.

Scoring was Derrek Laite assisted by Josh Serino and Logan Hume. 

The lead was short lived though, with the Sabres evening things up two minutes later. 

The Sabres the took a one point lead with a second goal in the closing few minutes of the 1st period. 

The Hawks came back on the ice with a vengeance to start the 2nd when Elijah Farris put the biscuit in the twine, assisted by Danny Shelden and Sean Harris. 

The goal, the only one in the period, put the Hawks on even standing with the score 2-2 going into the 3rd. 

For a moment it looked like the momentum would remain with the Hawks as Josh Serino, with help from Vince Leaf, scored for the Hawks to put them ahead. 

But the Sabres didn’t stay back footed for long and leveled the board with a Sabres goal two minutes later forcing an overtime. 

The three-on-three overtime play was up and down the ice to the last 10 seconds of the five minute period when the Sabres got by the Sheridan players for a one on none goal to end the game 4-3.

The Hawks ended the weekend earning 3 points in the series with the Friday night victory and the OT loss on Saturday, returning home with a 6-1-1-0 season record and 13 points on the season so far, putting them at the top of the Division and the league.

This upcoming weekend the Hawks are at home as they host the Great Falls Americans. 

It will also be the Hawks annual Cancer Awareness Weekend and part of the Hawks Hockey Fights Cancer program! 

The team will wear specially designed pink cancer awareness jerseys! 

These game worn jerseys will be auctioned with proceeds to go the Welch Cancer Center! 

The auction will begin Wednesday Oct 2nd and run through Sunday evening. 

Click here for the jersey auction.