The Miniota-Elkhorn C-Hawks grabbed the early lead in the North Central Hockey League finals by beating the Russell Rams, 4-1, on the road March 8.
That put the C-Hawks up 1-0 in the best-of-five affair. Game two is Friday in Elkhorn with game three being played Saturday in Russell. If needed, the final two games would be played on March 22 in Elkhorn and March 23 in Russell.
“Going into games two and three this weekend, our team is focused on keeping that work ethic up,” Miniota-Elkhorn coach Tyler Mitchell said. “We will finally have our full team back intact, and if everyone works as hard as we did in game one, it will be difficult for the Rams to stay with us.”
In the opening game of the series, the Rams struck first with a goal by Jordan Cullum in the opening period. Goalie Cory Gardham and the C-Hawks then shut the door and did not allow the Rams to score again.
“He was very solid for us all night long and made some big saves to get our team going,” Mitchell said of Gardham. “Also, I think what made the difference for us in game one was a commitment and buy-in from everyone on the ice. We were missing some highly skilled players for the game, but the guys who were there went into it with a workman's mentality.”
The C-Hawks flew in the second period with three goals. They added one more in the third.
“Russell surprised us in the first with some very organized and strategic breakouts and transitions,” Mitchell said. “In the intermission, we adjusted and came up with a new plan on how to slow down their attack. Everyone bought in, and our first two goals in the second period came off of good, hard work plays where we created turnovers stemming from those adjustments.”
Josh Martin led Miniota-Elkorn with two goals. Damon Bajus had a goal and an assist. Also scoring for the C-Hawks was Robyn McKean. Gardham finished with 24 saves.
