If you look far enough back in the history of the Slave Lake Winterhawks, you might find a two-loss road trip. You’d have to do some digging though, because it sure hasn’t happened in recent years. Even when the ‘Hawks were seriously shorthanded they usually managed to win one of two on a Hinton and Jasper weekend.
This time they lost them both, 8 – 5 in Jasper and 4 – 3 in Hinton.
“Considering we only had two lines, we had a pretty good weekend,” says coach Pat McGill. “We had a chance to win both games in the third period.”
That says something for the effort of the 10 skaters McGill had to work with, and maybe even more about the goalies, who faced quite an array of hard rubber.
“Both goalies played great,” says McGill. “It’s one of the main reasons we were in the games in the third period.”
According to game sheets, Sheldon Ghostkeeper faced 52 shots in Jasper on Saturday and Calvin Beauchamp saw 50 in Hinton on Sunday.
In the Jasper game, the score was tied 4 – 4 going into the third. A couple of what McGill says were “questionable penalties” put the ‘Hawks in a hole and Jasper scored twice on the five-on-three.
Brent Hill and Scott Cowan each scored twice for the Winterhawks, with Adrian Cherniwchan getting the other.
Given the manpower situation, the ‘Hawks must have been really happy to see Brad McTavish show up Sunday for the game in Hinton. He had an impact too, assisting on the first goal by Hill and scoring the next two.
“We had a couple of good chances to tie it,” says McGill. “But we couldn’t put the puck in the net.”
With the two losses, the Winterhawks sink to two wins and four losses on the season. They play the Legal Vipers in Slave Lake on Saturday.

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