Jason Hewitt confident Hull Seahawks are heading in the right direction
JASON HEWITT said Hull Seahawks’ 7-5 win over Milton Keynes Lightning was just rewards for playing some of their best hockey of the season across both nights against their NIHL National rivals.
It was a case of honours even in a fiercely-contested double-header, although Matty Davies’ team had to survive a late fightback on home ice to ensure they emerged with two points from the weekend.
The Seahawks raced into a 7-0 lead inside two periods on Sunday at Hull Ice Arena, no doubt driven on by their perceived injustice at the previous night’s meeting between the two teams in Buckinghamshire when the Lightning prevailed 6-4.
No doubt when Tim Wallace’s team pulled the second encounter back to 7-5 and there were over six minutes still remaining on the clock, there will have been a few nerves on the Seahawks bench and among some of their supporters.
But the hosts saw the game out to secure two vital points and keep them just a point behind the visitors in the regular season standings.
Veteran centre and assistant coach Hewitt said the win on home ice was no more than the Seahawks deserved for the effort put in over both nights.
“I was proud of the way the guys played (on Saturday) and we were really unfortunate not to come out of that game with something,” said Hewitt.
“But we were able to carry that over into the first two periods (on Sunday) and perhaps played some of the best hockey we’ve played.
“Then in the third period, I’m sure it was entertaining but, I think with us not being in that position much this season, we just didn’t know how to manage the game at that point.
“But we’ll learn from it, we’re a young group - not myself - but the important thing was that the message was very clear that we needed a win.
"We’re comfortable with how we’re playing right now and we’re making strides in the right direction.”
Bobby Chamberlain set the tone for the home team when he dropped the gloves with Lightning’s Patrik Forsberg just over a minute in and it was Hewitt himself who got the ball rolling when he broke the deadlock at 2.26 when he followed up his own rebound to fire past Jordan Hedley.
Good work down low by Jack Musil saw him find Alex Kent free in front to make it 2-0 in the seventh minute, before a Johnny Corneil re-direct off Emil Svec’s throw on net had the home fans cheering for a third time at 9.47.
Svec got in on the act himself when he fired through traffic and Hedley’s legs to make it 4-0 at 24.56, Lightning’s heads dropping further when good work by Jordan Stallard and then Lee Bonner teed up Hewitt for his second of the night at 28.22.
The same three players combined for the next two goals, Bonner forcing home a rebound from in front at 36.02, while Stallard squeezed one home past replacement goalie Will Kerlin from a tight angle to make it 7-0 two minutes later.
Milton Keynes served notice of their intent to fight back, though, when Harry Gulliver got them on the board at 38.39.
The deficit had been reduced to four inside five minutes of the third period when Sean Norris and Dominik Gabaj also found a way past Dan Crowe.
Patrik Forsberg’s rocket from the edge of the zone at 50.00 also eluded the Seahawks goalie as the pressure started to mount on the home side, something which ratcheted up even higher when Jordan Cownie fired home a loose puck from close range to make it 7-5 at 53.02.
But the rot was stopped and the Lightning thwarted as the Seahawks saw the rest of the game out.