Ice Hawk's season ends in pool play in Billings

Sometimes things just don't go according to plan. And for the Havre Ice Hawks high school hockey team, that was the story over the weekend at the Montana Amateur Hockey Association State High School Tournament at the Centennial Ice Arena in Billings. After dropping their tournament opener to Helena on Thursday, the Ice Hawks couldn't catch a break. They suffered a 4-1 loss to the Great Falls Americans prior to a 5-2 loss to the Billings Bulls, never making it out of pool play. From the start of the weekend the Ice Hawks felt they just couldn't get anything to go their way. In their loss to Helena the Ice Hawks put up 20 shots on goal in one period and over 40 in the contest, but even still couldn't manage to skate away with the victory. "It started from the beginning," Havre Ice Hawks head coach Mark Majeres said. "We just couldn't get any breaks and it seemed to carry through the tournament. A lot of the teams were really even. It's one of those things where if you are at the top of your game and get a couple breaks you do well. But if the breaks go against you, you probably end up losing just because the teams were so close." Facing the Americans on Friday, Tyler Miller came away with the only Ice Hawk goal, while an assist was credited to Kyle Miller and Jesse Majeres. Will DeVries was in the net and stacked up 30 saves. Against the Bulls it was Brandt Miller and Kyle Miller scoring for the Ice Hawks, while Gareth Bernard made 59 saves in the net. After suffering tough losses in their first two outings, it seemed to make the Ice Hawk's matchup against the Bulls that much more difficult. The Ice Hawks came out and played well. They were tied 2-2 after two periods of play, but Majers said they just ran out of gas down the stretch. "It just seemed like we didn't have any luck what so ever," Majeres said. "Billings is a very solid team and I don't think the game was as intense as it would have been. We had already lost two games and we knew we weren't going anywhere. It was tough to get the kids real fired up. But playing in their last game, they were out there playing as well as they could." The way the season ended may not have been quite what the Ice Hawks had in mind, but looking at the overall picture, the season can be labeled a successful one. After the weekend's state tournament, which was won by the Missoula Bruins, the Ice Hawks finished the season with a 10-11-2 record. And after a 10-8-2 regular season, the Ice Hawks played well enough to claim a No. 3 spot heading into the post season. "We had a good season," Majeres said. "And a pretty successful season. The kids played well all year long and we just came up a little short come tournament time. It just didn't go our way."