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The
Hawks were founded in late 2001 by former
president Mike Fox and former vice president Ken
Williams.
Although the team didn't spend much time on the
ice, playing mainly pickup games at the Nike
Base in Hamburg and a scrimmage against Erie
Community College, the 2002-2003 season was a
year that the Hawks program started to develop,
which marked the beginning of community service
projects on the Hilbert College Campus held by
the team.
The 2003-2004 season marked tremendous growth
for the Hawks. The roster doubled in size and
the team notched a few wins. It was the first
season the Hawks spent significant time on the
ice. The teams record at the end of the
2003-2004 season was 2-4-1. The team celebrated
it's first win against Alfred State on November
8, 2003, defeating them 6-2. January of 2004 was
a turning point for the club as Mike Fox handed
direction of the team to goaltender Jon Marchese.
Although the team was founded by Fox, it was now
Jon Marchese's task to establish it.
The 2004-2005 season marked even more growth for
the Hawks. A schedule consisting of more games
and a variety of opponents, the Hawks also
played in their first tournament, in Columbus OH
in late February of 2005.
The beginning of the 2005 - 2006 season had
given way to even more growth for the team, as
the team was accepted into the College Hockey
Association (CHA), a division of College Hockey
East (CHE) with teams such as California
University of PA, Youngstown State, Frostburg
State, Indiana University of PA, and Hilbert
College. In the first ten games of the regular
season, the Hawks finished 5-5, defeating teams
like Penn State - Altoona, Frostburg, and
California University of PA. The season
concluded with a second place finish in the CHA
after a last second win in the semi-finals
against Indiana University of PA propelled the
team into the Championship where the Hawks were
beaten by Youngstown University.
The Hilbert Hawks entered a new chapter on
December 5, 2005 as Jon Marchese handed his
duties of General Manager to assistant coach Don
Suchan. "Cheese" has
transformed this hockey team from pickup hockey
to what it is today, and one day, hopefully it
can be a varsity program at Hilbert College. Jon
continues to help the team in many capacities. For
all his work, we cannot thank Jon enough.
Entering the 2006/2007 Regular season, the team
had high expectations for itself. After losing
in the Championship the previous year, the team
returned hungry and with a lineup almost
identical to the year before, except a few key
additions and the addition of a new head coach.
However, after four losses in the first four
games, it looked like it would be a long season
for the Hawks. After an early season coaching
change, the team turned around to become an
unbeatable force to be reckoned with. It started
with one win, then two, then the next thing the
Hawk's knew, they had only suffered one loss in
ten games between mid-October 2006 and December
2006. The team continued to win straight through
to the end of the season, finishing with an
overall record of 17-5-1 and a CHA Division
record of 12-3-0.
Next
stop: CHA Playoffs, which the Hawk's were
hosting at their home rink. The Hawks proved to
be too much for first round opponent Carnegie
Mellon University, as the Hawks rolled the
Tartans 7-0. The Hawks knew that their Second
Round opponent, Akron University, would not
topple like so in the First round. It proved to
be a great game as Hilbert went on to win 3-1
and move on to it's second Championship game in
as many years. The Hawk's would face the number
one seeded team in the division, CCAC, whose
only regular season loss came to the Hawks. The
CHA Title Game was a battle of the league's two
best offenses and quickly became a game in which
something had to give. That something did give
as the Hawks Ryan Graham got a lucky bounce off
a CCAC Defenseman late in the game to give the
Hawks a 6-5 lead. Soon after, The Hawks notched
an empty netter to seal the deal, but it wasn't
enough for the Hawks to have a two goal lead.
With less than 10 seconds remaining, Jason Baldi
grabbed a loose puck and took off down the ice
on a breakaway, scoring with 6 seconds remaining
in the game. The ensuing face off was won by
Steve Tenebruso and cleared away as the buzzer
sounded. The Hawks clinched their first CHA
Title by defeating CCAC 8-5 in the title game.
It was a win that took a lot of Heart, a lot of
guts, and the ability to overcome everything
thrown their way.
The
2006-2007 season became the most memorable in
the Team's history and the Hawkswent on to
repeat and win their second consecutive CHA
Championship, despite the graduation of
several key players.
The team hopes to continue
its winning tradition with the addition of new
faces in the fall of 2008 and continue the
progress that started seven years ago and has
continued with three successful seasons in the
College Hockey Association. |
