Photos by Hannah Kennedy
Article by Terry Bothwell
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The Hawk’s locker room is a mixture of emotions before their state semifinals game. For seniors it would end up being their last game, and they anxiously awaited the start. Sean Parker, a quiet, mellow kid, shows a surprising amount of emotion. He struggles to find the words to describe what he is anticipating, and it boils down to two simple statements. “The goalie is good, and they are tough.” Unfortunately for the Hawks the goalie would prove to be a little too good.
Coming out onto the ice junior Alex Pantalone said the Hawks would be looking to get out to an early start. They capitalized on that idea when only 3:26 into the game Pantalone scored the first goal. The Hudson fan crew, the Red Sea, exploded with excitement and optimism was in the air. Unfortunately that feeling would not last long for the red and white faithful. Only five minutes more into the first period Westfield captain Nick Sibilia fired a wrist shot that would pick off the top right corner. A rebound goal that came near the end of the first put the Hawks down 2-1 going into intermission.
The Hawks tried to come out strong, but a shot off the post and a breakaway backhand denied by Nick Liberto crushed the Hawks’ early push. A penalty led to a power play goal that put the Hawks down 3-1, quieting the arena. In the third the Hawks’ pressure was tremendous; they were firing off shots left and right. Westfield’s goalie Nick Liberto would only make one mistake, however, as junior Blake Seymour put in the second goal for the Hawks. Despite shot after shot the Hawks failed to get one to go, ending the game with a score of 3-2.
The story of the game was Nick Liberto as he led the Westfield team to a victory with his 34 saves. After the game the Hawks were devastated having lost in the state semifinals for the second year in a row. However, Sean Parker remained emotionless. He admitted to being disappointed but also said, “I played hard and things didn’t go our way. It’s not the end of the world. They were just the better team tonight.”
Some of the Hawks were a little more upset. Brian Fahey said, “I feel like we disappointed a lot of people.” Coach Nanartowich said, “I felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest.” This pretty much summed it up for the Hawks.
Unfortunately for the Hawks the season is over, and Westfield is moving on to the finals. Losing seniors like Brian Tomczyk, Sean Parker, and Chris Tobin will obviously hurt the Hawks, but they have a strong and experienced group of sophomores and juniors moving up and taking their places. These players should be able to put together another good season for the Hawks next year.
Zach Chartrand • Jun 6, 2011 at 5:21 pm
I felt really bad for the guys, and thought this may have been our year to get a state championship.