The Haliburton County Huskies won a Jan. 27 thriller at S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena – scoring late in double overtime to oust the pesky St. Michaels Buzzers 3-2.
The blue and white would then go on to drop a close 5-4 decision to rival Wellington Dukes on the road Jan. 28.
The weekend started with team captain Patrick Saini notching his 30th goal of the season at the 5:48 mark of the first period against St. Mike’s, with helpers from Ian Phillips and Jack Staniland.
The Huskies held the lead until 12:04 of the second, when the Buzzers got on the board with a marker from Jonathan Morello. However, it took the locals just 49 seconds to reply, as Matt Milic fired in his fourth of the season, from Charlie Fink and Antonio Cerqua, to put the Huskies back up 2-1.
In the third, former Husky Marco Iozzo exacted revenge with a game-tying goal at 2:40.
The teams had to play until 19:32 of the second overtime period before Ty Petrou bulged the twine, with assists from Saini and Staniland to seal the deal for the home squad.
Petrou said it all happened very fast. “There was a bit of a turnover at the blueline and they had two guys caught down low and the puck just kind of ended up on my stick and I buried it, so it was good.”
Summing up the game, he added, “it was a little closer than we liked. But, I thought it was a good battle. All the boys didn’t back down, didn’t give up so it was good. We bounced back and kept the lead and then fought through it in overtime.”
The late Saturday night finish and then a quick turnaround to get the bus to Wellington showed Jan. 28 as the Dukes got off to an early 3-0 on their home barn.. Connor Hunt scored at 1:40, followed by Cory Jewitt at 7:05 on the powerplay and Panayioti Efraimidis at 15:09 on yet another powerplay, as the Huskies got off to a sluggish start.
They awakened at 16:53 of the first frame, when Saini scored his 31st, from Matt Milic and Hunter Martell. With the clock ticking down on the period, Aidan Yarde potted his third from Phillips and Martell on a powerplay to make it a 3-2 game for Wellington.
The blue and white came out hot in the second. Saini scored number 32 after just 29 seconds, from Petrou. It was 3-3.
However, the Dukes righted their ship, with Sacha Trudel putting them up again, 4-3, at 12:21.
In the third, Phillips scored his ninth, from Cerqua, to make it a 4-4 game. But Wellington answered back with a Caleb MacDonald marker to steal the 5-4 victory.
Petrou said, “Obviously that Wellington game the day after was a quick turnaround for us. It was an early morning. We had to be here (the arena) at 8:30 a.m. It was an early road trip for us. I’m sure a lot of the guys had bus legs and were a little tired.” However, he said it’s about preparing the evening before, eat, drink, rest and mentally prepare.
Prior to hitting the ice for practice Jan. 30, the forward added sticking to their game plan is key. “When we do that, there’s not a lot of teams that can keep up with us. It’s pretty to watch when we stick to our game plan and play the way we can.”
The Huskies played Jan. 31 on the road against the Georgetown Raiders. The result was not known as of press time. Feb. 4, they travel to play the Buffalo Jr. Sabres. They are on the road again Feb. 9 versus the Markham Royals. The Huskies are next at home, Feb. 10, this time hosting Markham. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. at the S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena.
