Matthew Morgan drives hard for the puck along with a Halifax Hawk.

PORT HOOD- A good offense is the best defence, the old saying goes, and the Halifax Hawks proved that to be the case last weekend when playing the Cape Breton West Screaming Eagles in the crossovers of the Pee Wee AAA provincials. The final was 8-4 for the guys from metro.
“It would have been nice to win a provincial title, but it just wasn’t meant to be,” said Screaming Eagle coach Paul MacInnis, after the game.
“We played a real tough team. They have so much depth, and their big players are their best players. They’re hard to stop. Our kids gave the best effort they could possibly give. We didn’t quit when we were down; we kept banging away. We have nothing to be ashamed of. I was really proud of all our guys.”
The journey to the crossover was a dog fight for the Screaming Eagles, who opened the event with a 6-2 win over the Sydney Steelers. That game took place last Thursday, but things turned sour on Friday as the Screaming Eagles were unable to drop the Bedford Blues (7-3 final) and the Truro Bearcats (5-3 final).
With a record of 1-2 going into their fourth and final round robin game, the Screaming Eagles were in a do-or-die situation on Saturday, when taking on the South Shore Sharks. The West ended up dropping the Sharks 4-3.
With a 2-2 record, the West narrowly edged South Shore out of fourth place in the preliminaries. South Shore had a win, two ties, and a loss.
Halifax was first overall, with a flawless 4-0 record. Indeed, the metro team scored 25 goals and allowed only three in their four round robin games - meaning the Screaming Eagles actually outscored all other teams combined, when playing Halifax.
“Our goaltending was great, and so was every kid right through the lineup,” coach MacInnis said. “We have some kids who are pretty near still Atoms and they played against the best teams in metro. We have nothing to hang our heads about. It was a great tournament. The oragnizers, volunteers and parents just did a tremendous job.
“And we had great officiating this weekend,” he added. “The officials did a real professional job.”
In the crossover game, Mike O’Leary (from Tyler Dixon and Liam Bradley) opened the scoring midway through the first with a trickling goal on Screaming Eagle Keal Frennette. With 4:28 left in the frame, Bradley (from Barrett Dachyshyn) made it 2-0 for Halifax with a point shot.
About a minute and a half later, Matt Morgan (from Zackery Phillips) picked up the puck following a failed clearing attempt from the Hawks’ zone, cut into the high slot, and put a wrist shot on high blocker side of Halifax’s Rowan O’Brien.
With seven seconds left in the period, Halifax took advantage of a power play. Graham Rutledge (from Dixon and Jake Burke) had the goal.
Late in the second, Randon MacKinnon (from Alex Bonaparte and Colby Tower) finished a nice set up at the side of the Halifax net to draw two goals closer to tying. However, Halifax added two goals in the final four minutes to make it 6-2 going into the intermission. Campbell Pickard (from Logan Jeddry) and Dillon Martell (from Nick Welsh and O’Leary) had the markers.
In the final period, the Screaming Eagles used a man-advantage at 3:13 to make it 6-3 with a shot from the top of the circle by Connor Freimanis (from Randon MacKinnon and Bonaparte).
Halifax responded mid-period with a pair of goals by Noah Bauld (from Welsh) and Dachyshyn (from Bauld and Welsh).
MacKinnon (from Tower and Bonaparte) snapped home his second of the game with 4:40 left on the clock.
The Screaming Eagles, said coach MacInnis, might have been a victim of their own dominance, as so many of their victories in the regular season were fairly lop-sided and, consequently, never taught the players the patience needed to play catch-up - especially in high pressure games.
Halifax ended up winning the tournament, dropping the Bedford Blues 8-1 in the championship.
The Screaming Eagles aren’t done yet for the year, as the squad will be competing at their league championship in the near future.