George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
The Havre Ice Hawks high school hockey team is closing in on a league championship. And this weekend at the Havre Ice Dome, the Ice Hawks took another step towards that goal. Havre swept the Butte Blues in a pair of league games to remain unbeaten on the season heading into a pair of critical home games against hated rival, Great Falls. On Saturday night, the Ice Hawks took to their home ice against Butte and skated to a 5-2 victory behind the combined goal-tending of David Zentmire and Will DeVries. The duo combined to stop 23 Butte shots on goal. Offensively, Havre got going in the first with period with goals by Chase Hanson and Mason Sheppard. Hanson scored on an assist by Tyler Boyce and Todd Roe, and Sheppard found the net on a pass from Shane Kemmer. In the second stanza, the Ice Hawks put the game away as Roe, Kyle Miller and Brad Hanson all scored goals. Kemmer and Boyce had second-period assists, as did Sheppard, Beau Briese, Jarrett McLain and Ryan Armstrong. With a win already in hand, Havre took it to Butte on Sunday morning, winning the second game of the weekend by the lopsided score of 7-1. The story on offense for Havre was Roe, who scored a whopping four times in the game. Roe scored twice on assists from Boyce and also found the net twice on unassisted goals. Armstrong also got into the scoring act three times on Sunday. Armstrong scored two goals and added an assist in the win. Brad Hanson also scored a goal on Sunday and McLain added another assist. Defensively, the Ice Hawks were solid all over the ice, and Zentmire stopped 18 shots between the pipes. The two wins pushed Havre's record to nine wins and one tie. Their lone tie this season came against the Great Falls Americans the team that Ice Hawks will host this weekend at the Havre Ice Dome. Havre will honor its eight seniors on Friday night at 8 :15 p.m., and the Ice Hawks will also take on Great Falls Saturday at 11 a.m.
