The Niagara Falls PowerHawks capped off a weekend series against the Skylands Kings with a 9-1 victory Sunday afternoon at the Niagara Falls Ice Pavilion in Hyde Park. The PowerHawks also won the game Saturday evening, 7-3 against the same Skylands team.
After the high-spirited and quick paced game from Saturday, Sunday’s contest seemed a bit more subdued. Andrew Logar scored the only goal of the first period, late, with only 1:51 left in the first. Spencer Hrynczak and Justin King provided the assists.
The Kings struck early in the second period to knot the game, 1-1. Stephen Sizov tallied the lone goal of the day for the visitors, assisted by goalie, Josh Sears. Matt Cavanaugh answered almost immediately for the PowerHawks to give them the lead again. That goal, only 35 seconds after Sizov’s goal, was assisted by Logar and Hrynczak.
The PowerHawks tallied two very quick goals with about five minutes left in the second period. Andrew Logar struck again with an unassisted goal with 5:02 left. Merely seven seconds later, Matthew Minichiello made it a 4-1 lead for Niagara Falls. His brother, Stephen, was credited with the assist. Logar added an insurance goal at 17:11, with assists coming from Cavanaugh and Brandon Snyder.
Niagara Falls kept the throttle wide open into the third period. Branden Tripi extended the score to 6-1 at 5:35, coming from Nathan Walerowicz. Matt Cavanaugh nabbed his second of the day at 8:09. The Minichiello brothers assisted on the shorthanded goal. Another shorthanded goal came 54 seconds later when Brandon Schweickert fed Logar the puck. Frankie Bodami also assisted on the play. The Hawks struck again 40 seconds later on the power play off the stick of Walerowicz. King and Michael Olszewski assisted.
Andrew Logar had another big game with four goals and assist on Sunday, adding to the three goals and three assists he had from Saturday’s contest. Logar now has 36 points in 14 games this season.
Kris Augustine turned away 24 of 25 shots in the win. Josh Sears, starting in net for the Kings, made 27 stops on 36 shots. Niagara Falls did score a power play goal, but their ranking in the league fell to 6th at 39.6%, still a very good showing on special teams.
The PowerHawks next see action Thursday morning when they take on the Southern Tier Xpress. They then travel to Binghamton for a pair of games on Saturday and Sunday. The next home games for the Hawks will be December 9th and 10th, when they take on the Jersey Shore Wildcats.