Hamilton - In their second exhibition contest of the season, the Humber Hawks’ men’s hockey team traveled to Hamilton to, once again, face-off against McMaster.

Humber’s starting goalie Victor Commisso was tested in the early seconds of the game, but managed to keep the puck out of the net.  At the other end, veteran forward, Justin Eccleston opened the scoring to give the Hawks an early lead.  This goal was followed up with the first power play opportunity of the game, but the score remained 1-0 when it expired.  Rookie forward, Tomislav Leljak was then assessed a minor penalty and McMaster was able to tie the game at 1.  Not long after, on a bad angle shot from behind the goal line, McMaster put a second puck past Commisso and took a 2-1 lead into the second period.

To open the second frame, the Hawks had a number of scoring chances including a 2-on-1 and a breakaway, both of which were stopped my McMaster’s netminder.  After a lengthy puck possession in the opposing team’s end, Eccleston was able to find the top of the net for his second goal of the game.  Later in the period, first year forward, Michael McCullough was assessed a hooking penalty.  The Hawks were able to kill off the penalty sending the teams to their change rooms tied at 2.

To start the third period, veteran player and team captain, Andreas Vena moved from his usual defensive position to forward and netted the Hawks’ third goal.  s. This was followed up with a quick goal by McMaster that beat goalie Liam Oakley who replaced Commisso at the halfway point of the game.  The tie lasted for a short while before McMaster struck again, scoring on a 2-on-0 play, giving them a goal advantage – but the Hawks did not quit.  In the last minute of the third period, Vena scored his second goal of the game to send it into overtime.

The teams chose to play a 5 minute overtime period, 3-on-3, to decide the game.  This was the first overtime opportunity for both teams, and each team generated a number of scoring chances on the open ice.  McMaster rang a puck off the crossbar behind Oakley, but it stayed out of the net, sending the game into a shootout.

The first 3 shooters from each team, including Leljak, McCullough and Cody Sobala for the Hawks, were stopped, forcing a sudden victory shootout.  Head Coach, Dave Eccleston, chose to go with his only two veteran players as the next two shooters for Humber.  Both Vena and Eccleston were stopped by McMaster’s goalie while Oakley made two more quality saves to force the shootout to continue.   The sixth shooter for the Hawks, rookie forward Panos Tsementzis, put the puck behind McMaster’s goalie, while Oakley shut the door at his end, thus clenching the overtime win, 5-4.

The Hawks are in action again on Friday, December 10^th in Hamilton vs. Redeemer.