Following the Ladies and Eagles game, came the Latvian Hawks and the Whalers. At a rapid pace from the start, the Whalers were unlucky not to score, but the Hawks drew first blood, with a goal from Edgars Indriksons, after a mistake by the Whalers at the back. A second was scored less than two minutes later after a fluke goal from Ingars Renkis assisted by Raimonds Gegersons. The Latvians piled on the pressure for the remainder of the period, and were unlucky to not score a third.
The intermission team talk from the boxer-gloved Whalers coach, Barry O’Hanrahan needed to get his team going, especially between the blue lines. It seemed to work, as the Whalers were more competitive in the second, and the game opened up with some beautiful passes from both teams. The Latvians made it 3-0 with Gegersons getting the goal and his second point, assisted by Vasilijs Prjalkins. The Whalers were unlucky not to get a goal back, after Neil Black made a nice pass, he agonisingly hit the post. In addition to that chance, the Latvians goalie, Andrejs Maisaks was standing on his head to keep his shutout.
The Hawks then scored shorthanded with a wonderfully made goal. An excellent pass from Marels Jevdokimovs to Jana Gerkena made it 4-0, her 5th of the season. The second period ended, and it was looking good for the Hawks to make the 4th playoff position ahead of the Ravens.
In the third, it was more of the same, as the Hawks scored a power-play goal, against the run of play. Scored by Gerkena, assisted by Raivis Mordasovs. They scored a sixth and continued the rout by adding a seventh. Goals scored by Alex Staselovich and Saulus Vaichulonis respectively, both shorthanded. The Whalers looked very shaky at the back, but never stopped plugging away as James ‘Bart’ Gatensby scored his 18th of the season. The Hawks responded again with another goal, this time by Armands Renkis from Saulus Vaichulonis, his second point of the night making it 8-1.
Mark Dunne got a goal back with less than two minutes to go, making the score 8-2. That’s how it finished, and the Latvians continue to steamroll on. The Whalers seem to have secured a spot in the playoffs, if not mathematically secure yet, they can almost guarantee post season hockey.