NASHUA — The General Hawks are in one of the busiest stretches of their schedule, but Saturday’s game was the toughest.
The Hollis-Brookline/Derryfield Warriors (8-2) scored three goals in the first four minutes of the game with Jesse Gertz (two goals, two assists) and Paul Vachon (two goals) leading the charge as the John Stark-Hopkinton/Hillsboro-Deering hockey team fell, 7-1, at Nashua’s Conway Arena.
“They’re up near the top, they’re probably a solid (No. 2 or No. 3) team,” said General Hawks head coach Denis Kolehmainen, who is in his 10th year as the head man of the Division III hockey program.
It was the third game in five days for the General Hawks (6-6), and part of a stretch with four games in a six-day span (with no practices in between) and the Warriors looked to have the fresher legs early, playing a faster, more physical game early.
“(The Warriors) play a little more physically than a lot of the other teams, but for the most part we just didn’t do a good job today. They beat us to almost every single puck,” Kolehmainen said. “We’re struggling in the defensive zone, we weren’t covering the correct guys, leaving too many wide-open chances for them.”
Paulo Vazquez (22 saves) made a couple of fantastic glove saves from point-blank range to keep the score 3-0 after the first period and the General Hawks had the first three shots in the second, but goals by Vachon and Torin White (goal, assist) with 11:34 and 4:24 on the clock made it 5-0.
“We hang him out to dry too many times,” Kolehmainen said of Vazquez, a freshman netminder who frequently has save totals in the mid 20s. “He’s played great for us all season. Had we done what we’re supposed to, maybe we allow four goals, but not seven. He’s doing really well for us. If it wasn’t for him, some of these games we wouldn’t have won. To a good team you can’t give up those opportunities. They cashed in on every single opportunity. We had those opportunities we missed the net.”
Sophomore left Avery Condon scored the lone goal for the General Hawks with 3:04 left in the second, assisted by senior center Ethan Molnar and sophomore right wing Gavin Nestler.
That top line accounted for most of the scoring chances for the General Hawks, which forced Warriors goalie Cavan Quinn to make 22 saves, but the hosts tacked on two more goals in the third to close out the game.
With the busiest stretch of their schedule behind them, the General Hawks are now looking ahead to their remaining schedule that includes a rematch with the Warriors on Feb. 16 and a contest with another top team in D-III — Belmont-Gilford (8-2) — on Saturday and Kolehmainen knows exactly where his squad needs to focus its practice — albeit with limited time.
“We’re only getting one practice in a week, and you can’t do much with one practice a week. You can’t correct a lot,” Kolehmainen said. “But our defensive zone needs work. We’re not passing the puck when we should be. It all starts there. It starts from the backside. Hopefully we’ll get a couple more (wins) and improve our game before the playoffs.”