Hawks soar through first half

Charleswood

While the Charleswood Hawks are off to a solid start, there’s still room to soar even higher.

At press time, the Hawks stood in third place of the 10-team Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League, with a 12-6-2 record nearing the halfway mark of the 2025-26 season, two points up on fourth place River East Royal Knights ahead of a Dec. 12 match-up (score was unavailable at press time).

The effort it took to get there has pleased Hawks’ coach Dillon Smith.

“Things weren’t going to come easy for us, we have to work for our opportunities,” Smith said. “We have a group that when we play the right way together, it’s a bit more gritty and grimy. We’d work our way out of the corner a bit, to start with. What’s been nice to see is we’re able to score in different ways as well.”

With a mix of new players and veterans, Smith said the team has come together nicely over the first half of the season.

“We have lots of first-year players in the league, not necessarily rookies to junior hockey,” he said. “We have a couple guys from the MJ (Manitoba Junior Hockey League). It’s exciting when you have a group that’s like, but also a good mix of veterans leading the way by example.”

More than in previous years, Smith added, most of the team grew up playing hockey in Charleswood.

“We have lots of players from Charleswood,” he said. “When you’re able to do that, everyone is excited to come to the rink. It’s been a real treat to have that many guys buy into it early.”

With each new season, getting everyone on the same page when running systems can be tricky. But Smith said it has been a smooth transition. The Hawks had the second-best power play, operating at 23.8 per cent, and goals for average, at 4.20 per game, at press time, as well the third-best penalty kill, at 87.3 per cent.

“It took us a bit to get going with special teams, but assistant coach Zach (Heisinger) has done a great job running the power play,” Smith said. “The guys who have been given the opportunity have been working hard and it has been paying off.”

Goaltender Aidan Kuo had the fifth-best goals against average in the league at 2.75 over 545 minutes, and a .900 save percentage, with only the goalies for league-leading Transcona Railer Express and the second-place St. Boniface Riels posting better numbers. Working in tandem, Kuo and first-year ’tender Marc Samyn have combined for the third-best goals against average in the league at 3.40.

“As a tandem, they’ve done very well,” Smith said.

With the second half of the season coming up after the holiday break, Smith said the Hawks need to work on consistency more than anything,

“Early on we found a way to win the tight games, and now we’re not winning those tight games as much as we want to be,” he said.

“Our goal every year is to compete for a championship. It doesn’t matter what’s happened the year before. Every year we come in with an open mind. We realized this year that there are a few teams who have had big turnovers, including us, so early on we tried to impose that team-first mentality. Having that every night will give us a chance. It’s put us in a position again to compete for a championship.”

Visit mmjhl.ca for more information, including schedule, results, and more.