Liam Hawel has managed to find that missing ingredient that is often on many a young hockey player's grocery list: consistency.
That, along with staying healthy, has made the 19-year-old one of the Guelph Storm's most reliable forwards this season.
Hawel had two goals and an assist Friday night at the Sleeman Centre as the Storm returned from the Christmas break with a 5-3 victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs.
The same two teams play in Hamilton Saturday.
"The past few years in the OHL I was a bit streaky. I'd go a few games with points, then go, like, six games without. Consistency this year has been key to my success and I just want to keep it going," Hawel said.
The Arnprior native now has a career-high 19 goals on the season and is on pace to double his goal and point totals of a year ago.
They are totals that should catch the eye of the NHL's Dallas Stars, who drafted Hawel in the fourth round in 2017. He remains unsigned but it hopeful a contract will happen.
"My agent and some of the Dallas organization have talked. It would be a great opportunity, but right now I'm just focused on doing the things I can to make the team win. If that ends up in a contract, that's awesome too."
Right now Hawel is playing on a line with Alexey Toropchenko and Pavel Gogolev and they seem to be clicking. Both his linemates had a goal and an assist Friday.
"We've played a few games together and we've scored every game, so hopefully that keeps going," said Hawel, who billets with Gogolev.
Storm general manager/coach George Burnett sees that consistency in Hawel's game.
"He's playing a lot stronger now and winning a lot more puck battles," Burnett said. "It's not just the goals, but he's generating more offence and giving us more balance."
Burnett also likes the chemistry Hawel has with Gogolev and Toropchenko.
"I think they enjoy playing together and as long as there's no liabilities from a defensive standpoint, I really like the line," he said.
Friday's game looked like it was going to be a cakewalk.
Guelph led 4-1 after 20 minutes.
But the Bulldogs responded with a pair of goals in a murky second period and it remained a one goal game as the third period ground down.
A five-minute major to the Bulldogs' Narvin Mutter with just over five minutes remaining for a head check on Barret Kirwin allowed the Storm to score on the power play and ice the win.
Anthony Popovich was a big part of the win with 37 saves.
"The boys were a bit out of sorts at times and it felt like the ice was pretty bad too, I don't know if that had anything to do with it," Hawel said. "It definitely looked like we struggled to play the game we normally play, but we came out with a win out of it."
It was pointed out to Burnett that the game was "sluggish."
"To say the least," Burnett said.
"We talked about it and expected a sloppy game and we're probably pretty fortunate with the outcome here tonight ... it was good to find a way."
With Dmitri Samorukov away at the World Juniors, the Storm again played with three 16-year-old defencemen.
"We've got three 16-year-old kids back there trying to give us some quality minutes and right now we need a little bit more support from our forward group and we need to have the puck a little more," Burnett said.
The game also saw former Storm player Tag Bertuzzi return to the Sleeman Centre as a member of the Bulldogs.
Bertuzzi, traded just before the break, was held pointless and was a minus-2. He left the game in the third period with a shoulder injury.
Next home game for Guelph is Jan. 4 versus Windsor.
