Sheridan Hawks Win Home Games Vs. Bozeman and Helena; Prepare For Two Games Vs. Great Falls

The Sheridan Hawks made the most of home sweet home this past weekend, outscoring the competition by a combined score of 7-1.

The Hawks shut out Bozeman 3-zip, and had a 4-zip lead on Helena, before giving the one goal with about 1 1/2 minutes to go in that game.

Through 18 games this season, Sheridan leads the NA3HL’s Frontier Division in both goals scored with 84 and goals allowed with 31.

That’s good for 5th in the entire league, and part of the reason is that the Hawks are averaging about 47 shots a game.

Head Coach J.J. Santagata says last season, there was a problem with some players being afraid to take the shot, but that’s not the case this season.

“I feel like offensively, it’s not just 2 or 3 guys right now that we’re relying on. We got a really good production from our 3rd line this weekend, they scored in both games, 2 goals in Saturday’s game, so overall I don’t feel like any guy is hesitant to shoot the puck. I think our defensemen do a good job of getting shots and getting shots through as well. I just feel all 4 lines are very urgent when the puck is on their stick and we emphasize getting shots through. Right now I think we’re focusing just too much on the quantity of shots and not the quality, so right now the big focus for us this week in moving forward is quality shots, not so much as getting pucks on net.”

Sheridan is at home again as the team entertains Great Falls on both Friday and Saturday.

The puck drops in both games at 7:30pm.

Weekend Recap: (Courtesy: Sheridan Hawks)

The Sheridan Hawks secured a 3-0 shutout victory over the Bozeman Icedogs at home on Friday night.

The matchup kicked off with Logan Sidlauskas finding the back of the net at the 13:33 minute mark in the first frame for the Hawks.

Heading into the second period, Jameson Clark tallied his eighth goal of the season when he showed up on the scoresheet at the 13:29 minute mark.

Finally, in the third period, Sheridan veteran, Vincent Leaf, netted his 16th goal of the year, this one on the power play for the Hawks.

Sheridan’s netminder, TJ Wonnacott, secured his first shutout of the season with a 23-save performance.

Saturday night the Hawks hosted the Helena Bighorns. 

Both teams were riding a two-game win streak heading into this matchup and both had an eye on the top spot in the Frontier Division standings, the Hawks looking to keep their #1 place and the #2 Bighorns hoping for a win to move up.

The Hawks showed off their offensive dominance in the first frame thanks to a trio of goals in the last 10 minutes of the first.

Ernie Allen found the back of the net first at the 8:33 minute mark.

Following him, Caden Gleason tickled the twine with less than two minutes on the clock to give Sheridan a 2-0 lead.

Finally, with 25 seconds on the board, Vincent Leaf notched one on the scoresheet with a goal of his own to give the Hawks a commanding 3-0 lead heading into the second frame.

A minute and a half into the middle period, Leaf found the back of the net again thanks to an assist by Dante Hunziker.

The contest eventually moved into the third period, looking like the Bighorns were going to be shut out.

However, with 1:21 on the clock, Helena tallied an unassisted power-play goal to deny Sheridan goalie TJ Wonnacott of two shutouts in a row.

The Bighorns would fall to Sheridan 4-1. Between the pipes for Sheridan, Wonnacott turned away 33 out of 34 shots to give him the win in the blue paint, and solidifying the top seeded Hawks lead in the division to 4 points ahead of the trailing second seed Bighorns.

The Hawks are home again next weekend for a two game series versus the Great Falls Americans.