The Haliburton County Huskies bounced back from an overtime loss to the Stoufville Spirit Feb. 11 to beat the Collingwood Blues 3-1 Feb. 12 at the S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena in Minden.
Zack Terry opened the scoring Sunday afternoon from Leo Serlin and Lucas Stevenson at the 9:50 mark.
After a scoreless second period, Luca Rea bulged the twine on a powerplay at 3:53 to put the Dogs up 2-0, with helpers from Alex Cunningham and Will Gourgouvelis.
The Colts made it a 2-1 game at 17:40 with their goalie pulled, but Lucas Marshall found the empty net a little over a minute later, at 18:52, to seal the deal and a 3-1 victory.
Head coach Ryan Ramsay said he thought it was their most complete game of the season as a team.
“Everyone bought into the game plan. It was like a playoff hockey game. Their team’s fifth in the country, so we played really well. Guys stepped up and guys played their part and are buying in, so it’s really nice to see.”
Huskies lose in OT
On Saturday, the Dogs came up against brick wall goaltending, as the Spirit’s Ayden Bulmer turned aside 43 of 44 shots.
In this game, the Huskies opened the scoring late in the first, as Isaac Sooklal buried the puck at 19:53 from Terry.
But Stouffville scored late in the third, at 16:55, to send the game into overtime. And the Spirit buried the puck at 3:28 of the extra frame to put the game away.
“It could have been 5-1, 5-2, 6-2 but sometimes that happens,” Ramsay said. “We ran into a good goalie. We had a couple of good chances to score. We hit a couple of posts. I think we outplayed them pretty good. I think they had a lot of perimeter shots. Spoons (Aidan Spooner) played well when he needed to but we couldn’t score.”
With tight weekend scorelines of 2-1 and 3-1, Ramsay said they had been working on their defensive game.
“Last year in the playoffs, I don’t think we did a good enough job as a team. I think there were individuals that bought in and played really well in playoffs, because it’s stingy hockey.
“It’s something we’re really trying to stress and get into the guy’s heads now, rather than in another three weeks. It’s something we’ve stressed in the last two to three weeks and pretty much all season. Our message from training camp was ‘this is the way you have to play in playoffs and there’s no switch once you enter playoffs, so get it into your head now and your habits’.
“Last year, we had a better team than Cobourg, but they just played a better playoff style – something we’re trying not to do again this year.”
Next up: The Huskies are on the road against Georgetown Feb. 18 before hosting Lindsay for a Family Day tilt Feb. 20. They will be at home again on Feb. 25 versus the Toronto Junior Canadiens. Puck drop is 4 p.m. at the S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena.
