Jake Hangen loves penalty shots. He’d told teammate Jared Milley so at Saturday’s Hamburg team dinner.
“Yesterday at our team dinner, Hangen told me how much he loves penalty shots,” said Milley after Sunday’s 5-2 quarterfinal win over Lewiston-Porter. “That’s the truth. That actually happened.”
So when Hangen was tripped up on a shorthanded chance with 34 seconds left in the second and awarded a penalty shot, he knew he was going to score.
“We all knew it,” added Owen Gonter, who scored twice in Sunday’s win.
Hangen’s penalty shot goal gave Hamburg a 2-0 lead, but it was far from the only thing that impressed coach John McFall about Hangen’s play on Sunday.
“Hangen is sneaky good out there,” McFall said. “He played playoff hockey today. He’s not feeling well. He probably lost five pounds of fluids today, and he’s down on fluids anyways because he’s not feeling well. He left everything out there. His play on the shorthanded play was amazing, the way it started, with stealing a puck. The way he moved in front of the guy to be in position and get held for the penalty shot, and then his great shot. So that was three great plays in a row. And in playoff hockey, you gotta make those good plays. You make enough of ’em, they’re gonna turn into goals, and that was a big one, late in the second period. We needed that one.”
Hangen’s goal was the Bulldogs’ second of the game. The first came from Jared Milley 3:32 into the first, but it was Hangen who set him up with a backdoor pass for Milley to bury.
“Hangen got a nice breakout pass, rushed it up on a two-on-one,” Milley explained. “He drew the defenseman perfectly, set me up for a nice one-time goal and a nice little celly. Got the boys going for sure, that’s for sure.”
“It was a play that we’re working on,” McFall explained. “He was open on the back side of the net, and who sent that over to him? Hangen. Just showing again, what a great game he had. He found him. We call that crossing the road. There’s a road down the middle of that ice, and goals come when you cross that road. He crossed that road and found it.”
Hamburg held onto the 1-0 lead until Hangen’s goal and carried a 2-0 lead into the third period. Then Matt Spameni happened.
After scoring seven goals in the final two games of the regular season, the Lew-Port senior scored the overtime winner against Sweet Home Friday night to send the Lancers to Sunday’s matchup with Hamburg. McFall knew to look out for Spameni (No. 10), as well as his linemates Mat Carden (No. 14) and Jacob Peters (No. 15).
“That number 10, he came on strong,” McFall said. “I watched them play their first game. Great overtime goal. The kid gets the puck, he goes to the net. 14 and 15 on their line are great hockey players, and they’ve been playing together the games I watched, and he broke them up today. So he had two strong lines, and they played well. I felt we controlled things well, but not getting breaks around the net, not getting good shots to the net because they were covering low, and they found their opportunities and jumped on it.”
Spameni scored twice within 12 seconds early in the third, and suddenly the game was tied at two. McFall called a timeout immediately.
“That was an automatic timeout,” he said. “Settle down. It’s not a time to yell at them. It’s a time to get them regrouped and let them realize ‘you were outplaying them all but 12 seconds there.’ They got outhustled those 12 seconds. Turn their feet back, start playing strong hockey, realize that they can come back, and thank goodness they did.”
“It was crucial to come out there and work as a unit, and if we didn’t, who knows what would have happened, but gladfully we got it finished,” Milley said. “[McFall] was definitely showing his frustration with us, and that just got us going, and at that point we just knew we had to turn it up another notch and get the job done. Gonter stepped up for sure — two huge goals.”
It was later in the third and not quite as instantaneous as Spameni’s two goals, but Gonter scored twice in 54 seconds later in the second to put Hamburg in the lead for good. McFall praised the two-way player for not just his performance Sunday, but the way Gonter has improved and learned in his time with the Fed team.
“He’s a dominant player and getting more so,” McFall said. “He’s gaining confidence as he goes along. I felt he played a lot more both ends of the ice also. He’s got the green light to go, whether he’s got the puck or not. Our forwards know to cover up for him, and he was going all game, and he found the trigger. If you shoot enough, you’re gonna score a couple, and he was shooting, and it’s a heavy heavy shot that he brings in, and he was able to find a couple corners.”
Jason Delmont added an empty netter at the end for a 5-2 win, and there behind it all for the whole game was senior captain and goaltender Griffin Coppola. His teammates said in unison that Coppola did “everything” right on Sunday, from his play to his calming presence.
“He kept us calm, that’s for sure,” Milley said. “I was skating out after an icing, he calls my name, I turn back, and he told me, ‘Calm down.’ That’s what we needed.”
“That’s a senior presence,” said McFall. “He’s been through a lot. He’s been through three of these close quarterfinal games. He’s been the guy in that net. That’s experience, and the guys can trust him with the play. Both goals, we just got outbeat. We don’t expect him to make that save — those were great shots. He told the guys that he could do this, so he has a little bit of coach in him too. That’s good to see, especially this time of year.”
And Coppola was quick to praise his teammates in front of him.
“I thought we played better defensively today,” Coppola said. “In past games, we’d give up goals really quick, right off the bat, and it gets in our head. Today we came out flying. We played in our zone pretty well in the first period, and I think that transitioned to the rest of the game.”
Tonight, Hamburg faces Kenmore West in the small school semifinals. A trip to KeyBank Center is on the line.
“Semifinal hockey,” McFall said. “It’s more of the same but better. You got everything to lose. Seniors who are feeling this may be their last game, so they’re leaving everything out there. Just historically, those are good close games. They’re gonna be playing with their hearts, just like we will.”
“I think it’ll be harder than this one,” Gonter said matter-of-factly.
“It’s the ‘yoffs, baby!” added Milley.
Hangen credited his new hairstyle for Sunday’s success, and he’s hoping it’ll come through for him again tonight.
“It’s playoffs, anything can happen, but the Mohawk got it done.”
And McFall summed it up best.
“It’s playoff hockey. Hockey’s the best sport around, and playoff hockey is the best hockey.”