Golden Hawks move up the ranks

By: Dan Pearce

TRENTON, Ont. (02/03/2012) JC Campagna of the Lindsay Muskies skates past Trenton Golden Hawks goalie Spencer Finney after scoring during the Ontario Junior Hockey League game on Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 at the Community Gardens in Trenton. The Muskies beat the Golden Hawks 2-1. Photo by Dan Pearce

The Trenton Golden Hawks moved up a spot in the Canadian Junior Hockey League, or CJHL, top 20 rankings this week, to number nine.

Though it’s a far cry from the first place position they held earlier in the season, the Hawks are fighting their way back up the CJHL leaderboards.

On Friday, the Hawks outshot the Lindsay Muskies 38-30 at home, but still came up short, losing 2-1.

However, on the weekend, the Hawks bounced back, winning two in a row on the road. On Saturday, they thrashed the Mississauga Chargers 8-0, outshooting them 61-25 and on Sunday, they did the same in Toronto, defeating the Toronto Junior Canadians 5-2, and outshooting them 45-26, to make it two straight wins.

This improves the Hawks record to 35/7/5 over the season, keeping them in first in the highly competitive Eastern division and second overall in Ontario.

The Cobourg Cougars (35/7/5), second in the Eastern division, are within striking distance of the Hawks, trailing by just two points.  The Cougars have won their last five games, including a decisive  3-0 shutout win over the third-place Wellington Dukes. The Cougars will see if they can continue their hot streak against the the Hawks on Wednesday in Trenton.

The Dukes, last year’s OJHL winners, received an honourable mention in the CJHL rankings. They currently sit in third place in the Eastern division, trailing the Cougars by seven points, and are seventh in the OJHL with a 32/11/4 record. The Dukes get a chance at redemption on Friday, when they face off against Cougars.

Rounding out the Eastern division are Whitby (27/12/9), Kingston (23/21/2), Lindsay (23/23/1) and Peterborough (8/37/4), who failed to make the CJHL rankings.