Huskies go Undefeated in 3 games to start new year.
Starting the new year off right, the Huskies went undefeated this past weekend, and ended the regular season on a high note.
Friday January 2nd was Walkerton
Throughout the season, the Huskies played home & home exhibition games against teams outside their division. This has helped to prepare us as we head into the All Ontario play downs very shortly. Friday nights game was the last of those exhibition games, this one against Walkerton. In the only previous mtg with them on Nov 26th, they handed the Huskies a 3-1 loss on home ice. On this night though they would battle and continue to come from behind as they fell behind 2-0 and 3-2. The game started evenly with both teams getting chances but not capitalizing. Walkerton finally managed to get one by the solid goal tending of Lucas Ball and took a 1-0 lead into the second period. The second was much like the first, hard battles and scoring opportunity's were created but little was seen in rewards. Walkerton scored again mid way through the period and they took the 2-0 lead into the final stanza. Not to be outworked on this night, the Huskies scored two powerplay goals to tie the game early in the the third. Bryden Ridgeway continued his strong play and finished a nice passing play from Austin Hutcheson and Dylan MacDonald. Jeffrey Aljoe from Landon Halloway would tie the game but Walkerton again took the lead with seven minutes left. A little over two minutes later Brady Becker went solo and tied it up for good on a nice back hand shot passed the Walkerton tender. The game ended 3-3 and brought some redemption to the team who had so far been unable to win or tie against their Exhibition opponents.
Saturday January 3rd vs Shallow Lake
A quick trip to Shallow Lake on Saturday morning was a prelude to a team party later in the day at the Becker residence. The boys however had their game hats on and played a spirited match which resulted in a 4-0 victory over the Lakers. Lucas Ball was the MVP of this game and earned his fifth shutout of the season. Colton Stoddart notched the only marker of the first period, assisted by Becker & Nic Whiteside. Noah Johnson would add to the lead in the second, assisted by Ridgeway and Becker. Just 16 seconds later this line would click for another, this time Ridgeway would tally the marker, assisted by Hutcheson and Johnson. Becker would add to the lead in the third period on another solo rush and the game would end 4-0 for the Huskies.
Sunday January 4th vs Lions Head
The final regular season game was played in Durham and was delayed for about 15 minutes as the two teams waited for referees to arrive. Once underway, Lions Head took it to Durham early and was leading going into the second period by a score of one zip. Durham finally found their legs and Landon Halloway tied the game 14 seconds into the second frame. Assists went to Becker & Aljoe on this nice passing play. A little less then two minutes later, Whiteside would score unassisted to take the lead and the Huskies would not look back. Ridgeway's torrid scoring pace continued when he took a pass from Johnson and deposited it into the net behind the Lions Head goalie. Becker would add another before the end of the period, this time from Aljoe. In the third period Durham would add four more goals to seal the deal. Whiteside from Becker, Josh Jenkins from Stoddart, Becker from Stoddart and Jenkins and finally Becker again to notch the hat trick. As with most games that become lopsided, we started to see some troubling patterns develop and today was no different. Skating with our heads down, not passing, getting out of position etc, were all the result of trying to fill the net instead of playing positional hockey. We'll learn from it as now we enter the
'Every game means something' faze of the season.
Paw Prints:
- If my information is correct, we will end up either in first or tied for first overall in the regular season. We should also have the best goal against average and the most goals for in the league. Way to go guys.
- This weekend coming up is the Durham Tournament, we take on the reigning Silver Stick Champions from Flesherton @ 8am. This should be a good game as our only other mtg with them was a 2-1 OT loss in the Clifford Tournament. We're looking forward to the rematch for sure.
- A special thanks to the Beckers for hosting the skating party and who opened up their home up for us on Saturday. And hey, only one kid fell through the ice!!! I'll have pictures on the web-site soon.
