Corner Brook -
Newfoundlanders always pride themselves on being hospitable hosts.
The Halifax Hawks had to feel more than welcome at the Pepsi Centre in Corner Brook on Thursday, as they went 2-0 versus the two provincial squads participating in the 2010 Irving Oil Challenge Cup AAA bantam hockey championship.
After an earlier 5-1 victory over the Tri-Com Islanders, Newfoundland's AAA bantam champion, the Hawks tangled with the host Western Kings in the final game of the tournament's opening day. The Hawks were simply too much for the Kings, roasting them 8-0, not a bad score considering the final shots-on-goal tally was 43-6 for the contingent from Nova Scotia.
John MacDonald (2), Ryan Falkenham (2), Mark DaSilva, Alex MacNeil, Liam Rappoldt, Kelly Bent and Mackenzie Young did the damage offensively for Halifax.
Jack Flinn posted the shutout, while Daniel McCarthy was a busy man between the pipes for the Kings in the loss.
Hawks coach Graham Burgess liked what he saw from both Newfoundland clubs, despite his team beating them both handily.
"Sorry about that," he said. "Honestly, I'm pretty impressed with the champion team from Newfoundland, they look like they've got some good skill. And I like the character of the host team and thought they accounted for themselves very well out there.
"What I really liked about the Newfoundland teams, and like I told my players, they never, ever give up, they never stop playing," he added. "We've got a lot of respect for the Newfoundland hockey players. We really think they're something."
Thanks to the two dominating performances on opening day, the Hawks have positioned themselves firmly as the favourites in the early going. Burgess is just hoping the success his players experienced on Thursday doesn't go to their heads.
"You don't get anything worthwhile that doesn't come without effort," he said. "You have to be respectful of your opponents at all times and nothing is going to be handed to you. Did we feel confident we had a good hockey team? Yes. I've been working in development with these players for 10 years, so I know they're good hockey players.
"They key is, they have to understand they need to work together for what they want to achieve."
Meanwhile, exhausted Kings netminder McCarthy could only shake his head and praise the opposition.
"I was hoping it'd be a little closer, but they're a good team," he said. "The amount of shots they had wasn't too bad, but they're just a really good team, so ..."
The young goaltender figured his squad would need to come up with the game of their lives to stand a chance against the team he described as big, fast and strong, with a good skill level.
"We know where we stand now," he said. "We know they're one of, if not, the best team in Atlantic Canada.
"Hopefully now we just rebound off this and come back tomorrow with a couple of wins," he continued. "We're down, but we've got to regroup and come back stronger."
The following are summaries of other action from the tournament's opening day:
Hawks 5, Islanders 1
Falkenham (2), Kelly Bent, Jordan Yochoff and Bryce Burgess struck for the Hawks in their first win of the championships.
Cody Dwyer replied for the Newfoundland AAA bantam champions.
District 3 Caps 4, Pownal Red Devils 1
Noah Zilbert, Mitchell Vanderlaan, Zach Whitlock and Oliver Cooper registered single markers for the New Brunswick representatives in the victory.
Darcy Affleck had the lone goal for the crew from Prince Edward Island.
Action resumes today at the Pepsi Centre. See Scoreboard in today's edition of The Western Star for a full weekend schedule.