Ice Hawks split final 4 games on home ice

In its final home stand of the season, the Havre Ice Hawks high school hockey team looked to give its fans something to cheer for at the Havre Ice Dome with two games against the Great Falls Americans and two games against the Missoula Bruins this past weekend.

Early on, the Ice Hawks played well in their two wins against the Great Falls Americans. But they ran into a tough Bruins team as they lost two games to end the weekend.

The home stand started Friday night with a 4-1 win over Great Falls. But the Americans struck first just 17 seconds into the game with a goal from Westin Weisenburger. It took a while for the Ice Hawks to finally respond but late in the first period, Ciaran Courtnage scored to tie the game. Less than a minute later, Austin Boyce scored a goal to give Havre a 2-1 lead.

The second period was low scoring, but the Ice Hawks broke through late with a goal from Michael Emge to extend the lead to 3-1. In the third period, Decker Hanson scored another goal for Havre to stretch the lead to 4-1. The Ice Hawks' defense allowed them to close it out for the win.

The Ice Hawks continued their weekend Saturday morning with an 8-2 win over Great Falls. It was a game in which the Ice Hawks jumped out early as Jacob Herring and Boyce scored goals in the first period for a 2-0 lead. The Ice Hawks then dominated the second period as they got goals from Hanson, Emge, Trayden Riley and Boyce to make the lead 6-0.

Boyce and Hanson scored another pair of goals in the third period. Weisenburger and Benjamin Hoiland made a pair of goals in the third period for the Americans but it was not enough as Havre won 8-2.

The Ice Hawks could not keep up their strong play Saturday night in a 6-2 loss to the Missoula Bruins. The Bruins jumped on the Ice Hawks in the first period. In the first five minutes of the game, Simon Wilson, Samuel Baldry and Ethan Elam scored goals to give Missoula a 3-0 lead. Wilson scored again later in the period to stretch the lead 4-0. A goal from Tanner Anderson made it 5-0 to end the period.

The Ice Hawks finally scored in the second period with a goal from Emge but the Bruins responded with a goal from Daniel Upton to stretch the lead to 6-1. Herring scored a goal for Havre in the third period but the Bruins held on for the win.

The Ice Hawks were unable to keep up with the Bruins Sunday morning as the Bruins won that game 9-3. The teams went back and forth in the first period. After Easton Leadbetter scored to give Missoula the lead, Jared Rosgaard scored to tie the game. Later in the period, Leadbetter scored again and the Ice Hawks again answered with a goal from Emge. After Tanner Anderson scored a goal for Missoula, Boyce scored to tie the game, 3-3, at the end of the first period.

The Bruins finally established themselves in the second period. Lars Thorne Thomsen scored a goal to give Missoula a lead and Wilson and Elam scored a pair of goals to stretch the lead to 6-3. The Bruins kept it up in the third period as they scored three more goals to pull away for the win.

Boyce finished the weekend with five goals and five assists for 10 total points for the Ice Hawks. Emge also played well with four goals and four assists. Over the weekend, goalie Clara Holland had a save percentage of .852 for the Ice Hawks.

The Ice Hawks are now 8-8 with four games left in the regular season. They will next play this weekend on the road against the Helena Bighorns.