Goalie Aidan Spooner said he was “feeling good” after anchoring the Haliburton County Huskies during the first of a flurry of mid-November OJHL tilts.
The Dogs cruised to an 8-0 victory over the St. Michael’s Buzzers in front of a raucous Minden crowd Nov. 12.
“It was a full 60 minutes we played out there, couldn’t ask for a better game,” Spooner said. Patrick Saini opened the scoring at five minutes, after a pass from Christian Stevens left the goalie flailing and the net unguarded.
“We’re working really well together,” Saini said after the game.
In the second period, Ty Collins added another, catching a pass right near the blueline and flicking a shot into the top shelf. Isaac Sooklal joined the scoresheet soon after before Lucas Stevenson capitalized on a bad deflection from the St. Michael’s goaltender to nudge the puck home.
The goals kept coming, and the crowd of 486 kept cheering: Boyd Stalhbaum, Collins, Declan Bowmaster and Alex Cunningham all capitalized on a St. Michael’s team that cracked under the pressure.
At the final buzzer, the team skated to Spooner, who recorded 32 saves, including one diving save to deflect a shot from the blueline and a steely-eyed handling of a Buzzers breakaway.
Was he thinking about the shutout before the whistle? “Not really, it’s more just playing your game,” he said.
“Doing everything you can to not think about it because in the back of your mind [the shutout] is obviously there.”
Victory in North York
The Huskies’ net stayed empty for 60 more minutes during a Nov. 13 4-0 victory over North York. This time Tyler Hodges was between the pipes, saving 25 shots.
Stahlbaum, assisted by Stevenson and Sam Solarino, opened the scoring late in the first period before Stevens, Saini and Josh Sordo added points to the tally.
The Dogs showcased defensive grit in the third period after Solarino received a two-minute minor penalty and a 10-minute misconduct for abusing the officials. The team held the Rangers at bay during the fiveon-four penalty kill.
A home defeat
The Huskies fell 4-3 to the Trenton Golden Hawks in Minden Nov. 15. After going one down in the middle of the first period, Sooklal and Stevens each scored in quick succession, taking the Dogs up 2-1.
Trenton scored the only goal in the second period, ratcheting up the tension into the third period where a shot by Saini regained the lead.
Then the win slipped through the home team’s fingers: Trenton scored two late in the period to snatch victory. The Huskies head to Lindsay Nov. 18 before playing Coburg Nov. 19 and Burlington Nov. 20 at the Minden Arena.
