NOVEMBER 2016 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3
hawktawk MAG-E-ZINE
CAPTAIN'S CORNER BY N ICK SWA N E Y
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THE GAME I'LL N E VER FO RGE T
ROBBIE BEYDOUN
P H O T O CO U R T E S Y O F D AV I D M A H N C K E
By Robbie Beydoun
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WAT ER LOO B L ACK H AW K S .COM
TAWK TO US PAGE 2
EVENTS & OCTOBER REMINDERS RECAP PAGE 3
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ANNIV. & NOTABLE DATES PAGE 6
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NOVEMBER 2016 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3
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Q U EST I O N: SO M EO N E SA I D SO M ET H I N G A BO U T G E T T I N G A F R E E CH I CK E N SA N DW I CH W I T H A B L ACK H AW KS T I CK E T? – CAT H Y V. ANSWER: Anytime the Black Hawks score two or more goals during a home game, that’s exactly what you’ll get from Chick-fil-A in Waterloo. Just take your ticket stub (or season ticket holder card, if you use that in lieu of printed tickets) into the local Chickfil-A location at San Marnan Drive and Flammang Road within one week of the game in question and enjoy. This is one more way to get even more value from your Black Hawks tickets (not to mention a tasty sandwich).
Q U EST I O N: I M I SS T H E F R I DAY PL AY E R CA R DS. W H Y DO N ’ T W E G E T T H E M A N Y M O R E? – ROSA LY N G. ANSWER: Beginning last season, the Black Hawks trading card set was distributed in two installments, instead of two or three cards at a time each Friday. This season, we will be doing something similar, with player cards presented by Great Clips. The set will be passed out in two halves on consecutive nights later this month: Friday, November 18th against Green Bay and Saturday, November 19th versus Fargo. Plan to be among the first 1,000 fans at each game to collect the entire set.
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EVENTS &
REMINDERS
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4 Black Hawks vs. Youngstown Phantoms 7:05 p.m. > Stress Awareness/Healthcare Night > College Night > Smashing Pumpkins with proceeds benefiting the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. Have a chance to win prizes, and be featured on the video board during intermission. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5 Black Hawks vs. Youngstown Phantoms 7:05 p.m. > Salvation Army Red Kettle Kickoff > Knockerballs Intermission Special > College Night SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6 Battle the Black Hawks Bring your sick bowling skills to Maple Lanes in Waterloo and meet Black Hawks players for the second annual Battle the Black Hawks event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This activity puts the “fun” in fundraising, while benefiting Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity. Maple Lanes 2608 University Ave. Waterloo, IA 50701 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 Black Hawks vs. Sioux City Musketeers 7:05 p.m. > Salute to Veterans presented by American Pattern > Throwback Jersey's Commemorating Waterloo's first hockey team. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18 Black Hawks vs. Green Bay Gamblers 7:05 p.m. > Trading Card Giveaway (1st Set) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19 Black Hawks vs. Fargo Force 7:05 p.m. > Trading Card Giveaway (2nd Set) > STH Game of the Month / season ticket holders can purchase discounted tickets for friends and family for just $10.00 each (any seat in the house, pending availability). THANKSGIVING THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24 Black Hawks vs. Cedar Rapids Roughriders 7:05 p.m. > Teddy Bear Toss > Knockerballs Intermission Special > Game-Worn Throwback Jersey Auction
Oct ob ber Re Cap
SHANE BOWERS # 15 | FORWARD
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OCTOBER 2016 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2
... the Hawks schedule sets up to be favorable as the season continues ... O c tob e r 2 016 should b e re me mb e re d for a long time by B lack Haw k s fan s a s the “ Month of the Shor thande d G oal .” A f te r re cording ju s t a coup le of shor tie s la s t s ea son , Wate rloo s t acke d up f i ve of the m la s t month . T he f ir s t such t all y c ame on O c tob e r 1s t w hile the B lack Haw k s we re v i siting the Siou x Fall s St amp e de . Shane B owe r s s core d it during the third p e r io d to ice a 5 -2 v ic tor y. Still on the road the follow ing T hur s day, Wate rlo o won by the s ame score again s t the Lincoln St ar s; Nick Swaney and Kev in Char y s z y n each score d in the third in the mid s t of a Haw k s p e nalt y k illing e f for t . Char y s z y n v ic timize d the St ar s again on O c tob e r 8 th , s coring a shor thande d goal w hich prove d to b e the game - w inne r. T he n B ailey Conge r ’s shor thande d breakaway prov ide d the w inning s core in a 3 -2 de cision again s t the Dubuque Fighting S aint s on the 2 8 th . Wate r lo o ’s f i ve shor thande d goal s are the mos t in the USHL so far in 2 016 /17. O ve rall , B owe r s le d the Haw k s w ith 11 O c tob e r p oint s and si x goal s in nine game s . His e f for t s include d a four- game goal s treak f rom O c tob e r 14 th throug h 2 2nd . Gar re t t Wait wa s the team ’s top a s sis t ge ne rator w ith s eve n . Swaney topp e d the plu s /minu s char t at +10 . In ne t , Robbie B eydoun and S eve ri I sokanga s share d the load . B eydoun p os te d a 3 -1-1 re cord w ith a 9 4 .1% s ave p e rce nt age . I sokanga s wa s an unde feate d 4 - 0 - 0 and turne d away 8 8 . 8 % of the puck s volleye d hi s dire c tion . Wate rlo o ’s 8 -1-1 O c tob e r re cord is par ticularl y not able , b e c au se si x of the w in s we re achieve d on the road . W ith onl y thre e home game s during the f ir s t f ull month of the sea son , the Haw k s sche dule se t s up to b e favorab le a s the s ea son continue s . During Nove mb e r, Wate rloo w ill tr y to buil d on a t wo - p oint We s te rn Confe re nce lead w hile play ing on home ice dur ing si x of eight game s .
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anniversaries
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AND N OTA B L E DATES NOVEMBER 14, 2003
NOVEMBER 20
None of the more than 2,700 fans at Young Arena knew it, but they were watching a preview of the Clark Cup Championship Series which would be played six months later. Joe Pavelski scored twice, but the Tri-City Storm rallied to force overtime during the final minute of regulation. Joel Hanson – who would later score the Clark Cup-winning goal – provided the winning shootout conversation as the Hawks prevailed, 4-3.
Mason Palmer’s 18th Birthday.
NOVEMBER 22
Peter Tabor’s 17th Birthday.
NOVEMBER 24, 1973
NOVEMBER 18, 1994
The Hawks were hopeful Scott Swanjord would carry the team to a win. Waterloo’s goalie made 54 saves in regulation, and overtime and the Hawks forced overtime with 46 seconds to go. However, L.A. Ross scored the winning Omaha Lancer goal in the 4-3 tilt. Waterloo would acquire Ross from Omaha later that season.
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Playing before one of the largest crowds the Black Hawks had ever seen at that time, Waterloo defeated the Milwaukee Admirals, 9-3, two days after Thanksgiving. Over 8,500 fans packed Milwaukee Auditorium for the affair. They watched Jim Coyle make 32 saves, while John Lesyshen and Dave Mazur each scored twice.
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We are just over a month into the season, and we have gotten off to a great start.
CAPTAINS CORNER BY NICK SWANEY
Nick Swaney made his first appearance for the Black Hawks as an affiliate during the 2013/14 season. He scored a goal in his very first game for Waterloo and has continued to put the puck in the net ever since. During 2015/16, the Minnesota-Duluth recruit led the Hawks with 30 goals.
We have had to play a lot of games on the road early, and I think that it has been good for us as a group. Learning how to play and win on the road early is really something that can help us in the long run. With more and more games being played, our young guys are really getting used to the style and intensity of the USHL. Guys are starting to become more comfortable and beginning to get their feet wet in the league. In the USHL there is always going to be some adversity that we will have to face as a team, and I think we have handled that adversity very well up to this point in the season. As a team we are continuing to work every day and are always striving to play Waterloo Black Hawk hockey. We are looking forward to getting some games back at home in front of the best fans in hockey. Go Hawks!!
NICK SWANEY WATERLOO BLACK HAWKS FORWARD #13 | CAPTAIN photo courtesy of stephanie lyn photography
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TH E GA M E I'LL N E VER FORGE T BY ROBBIE BE Y DOUN
I was 17 and a senior in high school three years ago. I started out that season playing midget major hockey for Compuware, a AAA U-18 team in Detroit. I was still trying to get noticed by some junior teams. I wasn’t drafted by a junior team in any league or anything.
A couple months into the season, the Michigan Warriors in the North American Hockey League approached me about signing a tender. In the “NA,” when you sign a tender, it just means that team has your rights, and you choose for them to have your rights. They played in Flint, but Moe Mantha, the Warriors’ coach, lives in Ann Arbor, and that’s the next town over from where I live in Plymouth. From the start, he was really supportive around me. He said, “We believe you can come in here and be our guy next year. We know you have a
lot of skill and you can be a Division I goalie.” He just told me to keep developing, and I’d be there next year, and I was just happy to be hearing from a junior team at that point, because no one was really talking to me. I was really excited about it. I didn’t really know too much about Moe then, I just knew that he was a former NHLer. So I signed with them, and literally like a week later, I got a call from Moe, and he said “Hey, do you want to play tomorrow night?”
Can I play with these guys? ... I just remember dad telling me ... it's the same game. it's the same puck.
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Robbie Beydoun
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I was pretty surprised; I wasn’t really expecting to be playing with them this early, especially because I just signed with them. My first game was going to be right after the Christmas break. It was against the Springfield Blues in Flint. I would be going from playing with kids that were my age – like 17, 16 – and then a week later I’m playing with guys that were mostly three years older than me. I had heard of some guys but, I didn’t know them, because everyone was so much older than me. It was an older team, too: mostly ‘93s. That’s how a lot of ‘NA’ teams are, they're mostly older guys. I was definitely nervous. I was with my dad in the car, and he really helped me out dealing with the situation. He was just saying, “Do exactly what you did that got you here, and just be yourself, you don’t need to be anyone else. You don’t need to try to do anything that you don’t
normally do. They recognize you because of who you are as a goalie and that’s all you have to do.” So he just basically told me to be myself and have fun with the opportunity. Instead of being nervous and saying “Can I play with these guys?” or “These guys are so much older than me,” I just remember my dad telling me on the drive up there “It’s the same game…it’s the same puck.” He always says stuff like that: “It’s just you and the puck, it doesn’t matter who’s shooting it on you; it’s just a battle between you and the puck. It doesn’t really matter if it’s a 10-year-old shooting on you or an NHLer shooting on you, it’s the same puck.” It was supposed to be about a 45 minute drive. It was really snowy that day, so the drive took a little bit. CO N T I N U ED O N PAG E 10
RobbieBeydoun WATERLOO BLACK HAWKS GOALIE 6' 0" / 190LBS | BORN 10/01/96 FROM PLYMOUTH, MI
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Dort Event Center is a big place. I remember walking up, and I didn’t really know where to go at first. We pulled up to the front where all the fans walk in, and we just walked in. I was there with all my gear. Someone that worked there in the lobby pointed me in the right direction. Then I ran into the equipment guy, and he helped me out.
at home, because it’s respect as a goalie. I definitely do that now because that’s how it was for me when I was first going up there.
Those two chances that I shut down gave me some confidence. From there, I just got rolling through the rest of the game.
All the guys were just kind of rallying around me, with me being the
When I made those saves, it kind of just built my confidence, early
I met the coaches really quick. They kept is short and said, “Hey, we’re happy to have you…we’re really excited about you.” Stuff like that, it just made me feel more comfortable that they were so big on me. I walked in, and Trevor Gorsuch – who played in goal here in Waterloo a few years ago – was actually the first guy I talked to, and he was really nice and supportive and wasn’t worrying “Who’s this kid coming in…” That was huge since he was a veteran guy. Trevor said “Hey, just have fun.” I don’t want to say that everyone does that, but just because Trevor did that with me, every goalie that comes in on the team that I’m on
That was huge since he was a veteran guy.
ever since then – even if it’s just for practice – I always try to get to know the kid right away and welcome him in…make him feel
P H OTO CO U R T E S Y O F S T EP H A N I E LY N P H OTO G R A P H Y
youngest guy on the team by far. They wanted to support me and see me do well, and it was good to get that good start. Going out for warm ups, the guys were wearing the half shields, and I’d never played with guys in a game wearing the visors. And there’s guys that have full beards, especially on my team, since we had an older roster. It was nerveracking, but once I got on the ice I just remembered what my dad was telling me. It’s the same game…it’s just me and the puck out there…all I’ve got to do is be myself. I think Springfield just came out hot. I remember facing a two-on-one really early. I had a breakaway save halfway through the first period.
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on. I was like “Alright, I can hang with these guys” because you never know where you really stand until you play at that level. After I made those big saves, I went in after the first period and the team was really pumped about me. They really wanted to play well, because our team really didn’t have a good first period, and I remember even Moe saying “This kid gave you guys a chance in the first period. He’s the only one competing right now.” So after that, the team really picked it up and kind of rallied around me being the new goalie and playing well in that first period. They put together a good game after that first period and were able to get a 2-0 shutout win with 20 saves. My parents and my sister were at that game. It was just really special to have them there, see-
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ing me in my first junior game. I’d never played in front of more than a couple hundred fans in AAA. It was really just a cool experience having my family there, playing my first junior game, and getting my first shutout. Right after that, I was like “That’s a great start to my junior career.” It built my confidence knowing that I could play with those guys and play well, too. I ended up staying there the whole rest of the season. I never went back to my AAA team, and it was kind of tough leaving. That team was right down the street from my house, and I had all my friends there. I felt kind of bad leaving them too, because no one was really expecting that. My AAA coaches were really understanding about it. There would be a lot of coaches who would be selfish, but Gordie Brown really had the mindset that the goal of playing AAA hockey is to move on and play junior hockey going to the next level. We agreed that was best and it was a great opportunity for me to get that almost-half season of junior experience. I was really happy that he was able to understand that. I had been playing most of the AAA games until then; my goalie partner on that team actually ended up playing really well the rest of the season, so it was an opportunity for him too. Moe told me to graduate from my school; it was a lot easier because I didn’t have to move to Flint. Instead, he offered to drive me to practice. I would meet him in Ann Arbor, and he would drive me, so I got to know him really well throughout those drives every day to practice. He would tell me all about his career and about all these goalies he played with, like Grant
Fuhr and about shooting against some of the best goalies of all time, so I learned a lot more about him as the season went on. I definitely didn’t know he was the captain if the U.S. Olympic team one year Trevor and I kind of went back and forth splitting games, then towards the last couple games going into the playoffs…he was the older guy and they ended up playing him more. We made a good playoff run, too, getting to the semifinals in Fairbanks, Alaska. It was a really cool experience going all the way up there and learning the ropes of
opportunity. I didn’t really know that it was coming; it just kind of happened very quickly, all because of that first game. Another thing the experience taught me about jumping up into that next step in my hockey career was: you never know when you’re going to get your opportunity, so you’ve just always got to be ready for it. I literally wasn’t expecting to get my chance until the night before.
PHOTO COURTES Y OF DAVID MAHNCKE
junior hockey through all of those older guys. It happened pretty quickly, and from there I moved up to the USHL the next season. No one drafted me or anything, but I knew I could play in the USHL. The reason why I was able to play in the USHL that following year was because I was able to play that almost-half season in Flint. Fargo saw that I had that experience in the ‘NA’ so that’s probably a good reason why they wanted to bring me in, too – just having that experience – all just because I was ready for the
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Every game, I say “This is the most important game of the season…the last game doesn’t matter and nothing else matters down the road. Right now, THIS is the most important game of the season.” I treat it like a playoff game or a championship game so that when it comes to that time, I’m not doing anything different. You’ve got to just have that mindset where you treat every game like the most important game of the season, because technically it is. It’s the only game that matters. - RB
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