Ice Hawks excited to skate

As the weather turns colder, that can only mean one thing - winter sports have arrived and in terms of local ice hockey, that means it's Havre Ice Hawks time.

The Ice Hawks, who are the local high school hockey team, will compete against teams from across the state in a league sanctioned by the Montana Amatuer Hockey Association. Some of the teams on Havre's schedule this season will be Butte, Billings, Helena, Missoula, Kalispell, Bozeman, Great Falls, Glasgow and Miles City.

For the second straight season, the Ice Hawks are coached by Barry Brownlee. Havre will also return some of its top skaters from a season ago, including Ethan Roberts, who was the top goal scorer for the Ice Hawks in 2016-17. Havre will also have Kinzee Peterson back between the pipes at goalie, as well as Bryce Denton, Trent Shettel, Bay Merker, Noah Kirsch, Donovan McLain, Joey Bender, Dexter Beck, Cole Hanson, August Eacker and Rhoda Peterson.

"We don't have as many kids in terms of numbers that we had last season," Brownlee said. "But I think we only have one new player this season. So we have a good amount of experience back. Last year, these guys didn't think they would win a game, and we lost in the B Division state championship, so we feel we can be even better."

One thing that will certainly give the Ice Hawks an advantage this season is their experience returning from a season ago. Roberts already looks to be even better than he was before, as he helped the Ice Hawks get a point from their season-opening trip to Helena. The Ice Hawks played two games in Helena, losing 6-5 in one game, but earning a 2-2 tie in the other.

A big reason Havre was able to come away with points, were the five goals scored in the two games by Roberts. Roberts also added an assist, giving him a team-high of six points through two games. Beck is second with two assists and two points while Hanson and Eacker are the other players who scored goals. Peterson also had a solid weekend in net for the Ice Hawks against Helena, notching 58 saves in the two games and posting a goals against average of 4.0.

There are a total of 10 teams, with Havre included, playing high school hockey in the state this season and Havre will play them all, with four games coming against Great Falls. The Ice Hawks will be in action next on Dec. 8-9 when they will host Butte for two. Havre will then be on the road for the next eight games, with trips to Missoula (Dec. 15-16), Glasgow (Dec. 23), Great Falls (Dec. 29-30) and Kalispell (Jan. 6-7).

"My goal with this team is always going to be to get in the A Division at the state tournament," Brownlee said. "It's hard to know how good every team is. Missoula has about 100 kids to choose from, so they are always good. But Helena, they beat us twice last year and we tied with them once already. But we are always going to shoot to make it into the top tournament at the end of the year."

The Ice Hawks will then return to the Havre Ice Dome for games against Bozeman (Jan. 19-20) and Great Falls (Feb. 2-3), before heading to Miles City for two more games Feb. 16-17. Havre will conclude the season at home Feb. 23-24 against Billings.

At the end of the season, teams will be split, based on record into an A Division and a B Division for the state tournament. Both state tournaments will be held in Missoula March 2-4.