Ice Hawks drop two at home

Havre's Ned Malone, left, battles for a puck during Sunday's high school hockey game against the Gull Lake Greyhounds at the Havre Ice Dome.

The season is just getting underway for the Havre Ice Hawks high school hockey team, but they are already looking to shake off a couple of tough games.

Havre's Caleb McLain, left, heads down the ice during Sunday's high school hockey game at the Havre Ice Dome.

Over the weekend, the Ice Hawks hosted Gull Lake, but fell in both matchups at the Havre Ice Dome. On Saturday, the Greyhounds defeated the Ice Hawks 6-4, while the Greyhounds' dominance also spilled over into Sunday morning action. Sunday, the Greyhounds defeated the Ice Hawks 7-1.

The Ice Hawks are young and relatively inexperienced this season, and it showed this weekend at home.

On Saturday, the Ice Hawks played solid first and third periods, but led the Greyhounds take control of the game in the second period. And trying to play catch up, Havre scored three of its four goals in the third period. The defense also put goalie Mathew Emge to work, as Emge saved 34 of the Greyhounds 40 shots on the net.

Justin Miller scored, while Alex Hanson and Kyle Konesky were credited with assists. Ned Malone also scored on Jon Stoner and Nick Howell assists, while Brandon Huntington scored on a Dustin Armstrong assist. Armstrong also scored a goal, with the assist going to Huntington.

In the loss on Sunday, the Ice Hawks continued to show their youthfulness in another tough loss.

This time penalties really played a role, as the Ice Hawks racked up a grand total of 20 minutes in the penalty box.

"Penalties, power plays, and short-handed goals really hurt us today," Havre head coach Scott Gunderson said. "We can't expect to win unless we clean some things up and eliminate some of those penalties."

Even with the penalties, the Ice Hawks' offense was more active on Sunday, as they attempted 24 shots, the highest total so far this young season. Caleb McLain had the only goal for the Ice Hawks. But Emge had another busy three periods, as Gull Lake fired on Emge 33 times. Emge had 26 saves.

The Ice Hawks will be back in action on December 1 and 2, as they travel to Salmon Idaho. The Ice Hawks will face Salmon and Helena.