Dennis Wilson Leader Correspondent
Photo by Dennis Wilson Shawano Community High School freshman Andrew Puissant takes the ice during Tuesday’s 4-0 shutout over Fox Cities United at the Crawford Center.
Caleb Davids had an angel on his shoulder Tuesday night.
Davids, the goalie for Shawano, lost his grandfather this past week, and it was apparent that Grandpa was looking down on Caleb as he helped lead the Hawks to a 4-0 shutout victory over Fox Cities United at the Crawford Center.
“This game was huge and to get the shutout was just as big,” Davids said. “With my grandfather dying this past weekend, he was up there going through it all with me. It was definitely rough trying to concentrate and come back to the ice after that.”
Davids had plenty of help offensively from Ryan Wegenke. The freshman winger netted two for the Hawks, including the one in the first period and the final goal of the game.
“I was getting a lot of garbage goals right by the net,” Wegenke said. “The team was working real hard, but kind of shut off in the second period. But we kept on going and got the win.”
Even with his two goals, Wegenke gave all the credit for the victory to Davids in between the pipes.
“He was phenomenal tonight,” Wegenke said of Davids. “We won that game tonight mostly because of him. He was the backbone of the team tonight. Our defense wasn’t playing to well in the beginning, but we had Caleb backing us up so it really helped.”
The youth of the United reared its ugly head in the third period, has they picked up four penalties which resulted in a power play goal for Bryce Gagnow, who also chipped in an assist. Andrew Puissant added two assists for the Hawks.
For head coach Garrett Smith, he knew there ware some struggles on the defensive end to begin the game.
“We had some struggles with our defensive pairs, but we basically had a stellar performance by Caleb with the shutout,” Smith said. “A lot of the credit for the shutout falls on Caleb’s shoulders.”
Smith was also impressed with the play of Wegenke.
“He has been strong for us since the beginning of the season. I think he got a goal in our first game as well,” Smith said. “This is his first year playing with us and he has been a valuable asset to us from the beginning.”
Smith knows there is room for improvement.
“We started slow and we weren’t playing as a team,” He said. “We need to have better passes and better communication. What we can learn from a game like this that we need to play better as a team from the get-go and come out with a little bit more pep on our step.”
Defensively, Smith said that the team has been working with the same pairs for some time now.
“Our defensive pairs have been set for probably two years now,” Smith said. “We have got some experience together and we have some go cooperation. Overall, we made good decisions and handled the puck well.”