News you can use
News you can use
The Havre Ice Hawks high school hockey team has already started the 2016-17 season, a season that could culminate with playing in the Class B State Tournament on home ice. That tourney is scheduled for early March at the Havre Ice Dome. The Ice Hawks also have a new head coach this season.
There is no doubt that Havre is a town that is passionate about hockey. So when the weather turns cold, you can expect local teams to be busy on the ice.
Of course, when it comes to local youth hockey, it’s all about the Havre Ice Hawks and at the high school level, the Ice Hawks have just gotten another season underway.
Havre, which is being directed by first-year head coach Barry Brownlee, a Canadian-born, former junior-hockey player, started its season last weekend.
“I don’t have any previous coaching experience,” Brownlee said. “I just love hockey, I guess that’s because I am Canadian. I just thought it would be fun and a good way to give back to the community.”
The Ice Hawks, who compete within the Montana Amaetuer Hockey Association, took part in the Class B competition last year, which features the lower level teams. If Havre stays in that level this season, it will play in the Class B state tournament, which Havre will host inside the Havre Ice Dome March 3-5. The other possibility is the Class A state tournament, which will be much harder to qualify for. That will take place in Whitefish at the same time.
“That’s just going to come down to how well we play,” Brownlee said. “It would be nice to play in the B tournament, because we would get to play at home, but it would be good to make the other, too, because that would mean we played well.”
While Brownlee will man things from behind the bench, the Ice Hawks will boast a total of 12 players, including a number of returners from last year's team, highlighted by Ethan Roberts, who Brownlee said plays for Montana’s All-Star team. The rest of the team includes Nicholas Stump, Kyle Kirkpatrick, Jeffrey Ralph, Clifford Lehnhardt, Cole Hanson, Kinzee Peterson, Donovan McLain, Bryce Denton, Noah Kirsch and Bayron Merker.
“I think Ethan and Kinzee are two that people might notice right now,” Brownlee said. “But I think at some point, each player is going to have a moment where they shine more than the others.”
The Ice Hawks will face teams from across the state such as squads from Billings, Butte, Great Falls, Bozeman, Helena, Missoula, Miles City, Kalispell and Glacier. The Ice Hawks classification or Class B or Class A, will be determined by how they do against these opponents.
Havre opened its season last weekend in Helena against the Bruins and dropped both games by the score of 7-3 and 11-2. In the first meeting Saturday, the Ice Hawks fell by four, despite getting goals from Roberts, Lenhardt and Hanson. Stump, Merker, Kirkpatrick and Lenhardt all added assists. Peterson faced 30 shots in net and stopped 23.
On Sunday, the two teams met again and this time Helena won by nine. Hanson scored both goals for the Ice Hawks, one of which was assisted by Merker. Peterson stopped 35 of the 46 shots she faced.
Havre will be in action again this weekend, as the Ice Hawks will be in Butte to take on the Butte Copper Kings.
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