A face off between the Trenton Golden Hawks and Lindsay Muskies on Dec. 13. Trenton won 4-3. Photo by Alana Pickrell, QNet News
By Daniel Taylor [1]
BELLEVILLE – The Trenton Golden Hawks [2] are used to being at the top of their division, but that’s not the case this season.
Last season, Trenton boasted a 42-9-1 record, finishing first in the Ontario Junior Hockey League standings and winning the league championship, the Dudley Hewitt Cup [3], for the second year in a row. Unfortunately, this year’s hasn’t been the same. With nine games remaining, the Golden Hawks sit fourth in the east division, tied with the Cobourg Cougars at 48 points.
While Trenton is a sure bet for the playoffs, head coach and general manager Marty Abrams said he is disappointed with his team’s record this season.
“We haven’t been able to string four or five wins together in a row,” said Abrams. “Yes, we’ve had some injury problems, but all teams have that. I’m just more disappointed in our inconsistency than anything else.”
In an effort to improve the team heading into the playoffs, Abrams made some notable acquisitions that has given Trenton a little extra fire power.
On Jan. 10, the Golden Hawks acquired high-flying forward Christopher Karabassis [4] from a trade with the Mississauga Chargers. While playing for the G-Hawks, Karabassis has registered four goals and seven assists in seven games. He leads the team in scoring with 49 total points.
“He’s a proven goal scorer at our level,” said Abrams.” He’s been as advertised since coming here. He’s played very well and he’s an offensive type player that adds some secondary scoring to our team.”
The team also added defenceman Stuart Harley from Smiths Falls, a strong stay at home defender who has been paired with defenceman Caleb Bowman since coming over in the trade.
Abrams says these acquisitions give the team much more depth in all positions than before and will make them a much more difficult team to defend come playoff time.
If the playoffs started today, Trenton would match up against the first place Aurora Tigers in the first round. On paper Aurora is the much better team. But, while Aurora is a favourite to win it all, the G-Hawks have played them tight this season, taking them to overtime on three separate occasions and winning twice.
Abrams says he has no problem playing Aurora in the first round.
“The playoffs are a totally different story than the regular season. We’ve had some success against them in the regular season, but they’re a team that’s built to win this year.”
“They’ve got a lot of offensive players and great goaltending. We’d certainly be up against a very tough opponent, but in the playoffs our league is different, you start from scratch and it doesn’t matter who we play in the playoffs, it’s going to be a tough series,” Abrams said.
The Golden Hawk’s next game is at home on Feb. 6 when they host the Pickering Panthers at 8:00 p.m.