It hasn’t exactly been a cakewalk in the early going for the Bishop Hendricken hockey team.

The points are there, compiling six over its first four games, but the Hawks haven’t had a comfortable game yet.

And Saturday night was no different, as Hendricken took rival La Salle to overtime, marking the fourth straight game that the Hawks played into overtime.

But, fortunately for Hendricken, it came out on the winning end against the Rams, 2-1, with Pat Creamer redirecting a shot from Peter Krekorian past La Salle netminder Taylor Peltier just 24 seconds into the extra period.

Creamer’s game-winner came on the lone power play of the night. La Salle’s Drew Edwards was assessed a slashing penalty with 21 seconds left in regulation – the only penalty called in the game. The Hawks failed to convert before the third period expired, but they carried over one minute, 39 seconds of man advantage time into overtime.

Hendricken capitalized on the opportunity, with Creamer burying his second goal past Peltier to put the finishing touches on the short-lived overtime.

“This was our fourth game of the year and it’s our fourth overtime game,” Hendricken head coach Jim Creamer said. “It’s a little crazy. We didn’t expect it to be easy [tonight], and it was anything but easy. It’s just a well-balanced league this year. We’re going to have a lot of nights like this where it’s going to be a battle.”

It was evident that both teams were in for a battle from the opening faceoff.

There weren’t many high-quality scoring chances in the first period, but Peltier and Hendricken’s Wyatt Alberigo were up to the task when they were tested in net.

Midway through the opening frame, Andrew Hopgood fed Pat Creamer with a backhand saucer pass out of the corner. Pat Creamer collected the pass from in close, but Peltier cut down the angle and shouldered away the shot.

Edwards had La Salle’s best chance of the period, but his wrister on a 2-on-1 rang iron.

In the second period, La Salle picked up its pace of play, leading to 13 shots-on-net.

But Alberigo stood tall in goal, once again.

At the 6:05 mark of the second, Alberigo pushed off from left to right on a pass across the crease, making a kick save before denying the rebound chance with the blocker to keep the game scoreless.

Four minutes later, Alberigo made three consecutive saves on a flurry of chances for the Rams out in front.

In all, Alberigo stopped 27 shots in the win.

“Without Wyatt, tonight’s a different ballgame,” Jim Creamer said. “That was his best effort of the year, and we’re certainly happy he had it tonight. He was outstanding.”

In the final seconds of the second period, Edwards had a chance out in front for La Salle, but his shot hit directly off the crossbar to keep the game scoreless going into the intermission.

The first goal didn’t come until the 8:04 mark of the third, when Brandon Waterman beat a defenseman wide and fired a pass in front. The pass was deflected and Pat Creamer batted the puck out of the air on the doorstep and into the back of the net to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

Nearly four minutes later, La Salle came up with the equalizer.

Defenseman Jacob Durocher scored on a tremendous individual effort with just three minutes remaining, taking the puck coast to coast with speed and slipping a shot by Alberigo to tie the game at 1.

But the penalty assessed to Edwards gave Hendricken some life.

In overtime, Waterman possessed the puck in the corner and fed a pass on the tape to Krekorian at the point. He walked in and fired a low, hard shot that was deflected by Pat Creamer for the game-winner.

The win propelled the Hawks into second place with a 2-0-1-1 record, just one point behind Mount St. Charles at 3-0-0-1.

“We talked about not just trying hard but getting it done, and they got it done tonight,” Jim Creamer said.

The Hawks were set to play their first game in the Mount St. Charles Holiday Face-Off Tournament on Monday against Fairfield Prep (Conn.), but results were unavailable at press time.