By Kim Staudinger
The Havre Midget Ice Hawks finally got a chance to play at home after being on the road for nearly one month. They took advantage of the home ice to win two games against a tough Missoula team.
The Ice Hawks played a late game Friday night with action starting at 9, but nonetheless a great crowd showed up to see Havre take on what had been last season's top team before the state tournament.
"The crowd got us pretty pumped up," Havre player Jason Johnstone said. "We like to encourage as many people to come out and watch us as they can."
Though Havre won the state title last season, Johnstone said Missoula players still thought they were the better team.
"They felt they were state champions regardless of who really won," he said. "But we sent them the message pretty early we were better."
Havre won Friday's game 4-2 and also won Saturday 7-1.
Levi Briese scored two of Havre's four goals Friday, with assists by Jason Johnstone, Cody McLain and Garrett Drake.
Jack Stilger and Cody McLain scored the other two Havre goals with assists by J.R. Morse, Tyson Roe and Chazz Hurlburt.
Eric McLain capped off a great weekend Saturday with a near shutout, allowing only one goal to Missoula.
Johnstone said the win was a team effort and that everybody played really well.
Andy Meyers, Hurlburt, Briese and Brett Patrick each scored unassisted goals in the game. Morse added a goal, assisted by Johnstone, and Drake another, assisted by Cody McLain.
"Our team is playing pretty well right now," Johnstone said, noting the members of the team have been playing together since they were 5 or 6 and that they know each other well. "We need to work on playing a full three periods and we'll be dominant again and probably win state."
The Havre homestand continued on Sunday, taking on Frontier, Saskatchewan. But Frontier was looking for revenge for ahome loss at the hands of the Havre team and got it with a 7-2 win.
Johnstone scored the only two Havre goals, both assisted by Tyson Roe.
Due to the Christmas break, Havre was without Briese, Patrick and Meyers for Sunday's game.
