The Haliburton County Huskies secured a playoff berth after a flawless weekend that saw the team score eight goals and goaltender Brett Fullerton record back-toback shutouts.
It’s the third successive year the blue and white have qualified for the post-season. Fullerton believes the hometown team, which climbed to fifth position in the East Conference after a 6-0 win over the Caledon Admirals Feb. 24, and 2-0 win over the North York Rangers Feb. 25, has what it takes to compete for an OJHL championship.
They will likely have to do it the hard way, ceding home ice unless they win their final two games, and several other results go their way. If the Toronto Jr. Canadiens and Markham Royals lose two of their final three games, the Huskies have a chance to sneak into fourth place, which would bring home ice advantage.
“For us to get that home ice would be huge, some other stuff has to fall into place, but our mindset right now is just to win out and see where that takes us,” Fullerton said. “Everyone has talked about playoffs… I don’t think we really care who we play. It’s just about knowing if we play our game then we can beat any team, as we’ve shown this season.”
More than 500 people packed into S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena Saturday for the Huskies penultimate regular season home game. The crowd barely had a chance to take their seats before Lucas Marshall opened the scoring 77 seconds in, notching his seventh goal of the season after being set up by team captain Patrick Saini and Charlie Fink.
Saini doubled the lead 17:51 into the first, assisted by Matt Milic and Marshall. Fink then got in on the scoring action, finding twine on the powerplay 5:17 into the middle frame on assists by Adam Smeeton and Ian Phillips.
Petrou added another powerplay marker two minutes later, assisted by Saini and Milic, before Phillips potted his 12th goal of the season at 8:14, assisted by Petrou and Noah Lodoen. Fink helped himself to his second of the game, and 19th of the season, 11:34 into the third, assisted by Saini, who had a four-point night, and Marshall, who had three points.
Fullerton was rock solid between the pipes, turning away 16 shots en route to his first shutout of the season.
“Right from puck drop, the boys were really up for it and that helps me, for sure. I felt pretty relaxed in net knowing if we stuck to our plan that I was probably going to have a good night,” Fullerton said. “All credit for the shutout goes to the rest of the boys – they really limited the shots I had to face.”
A quick schedule turnaround saw the Huskies take to the ice in Toronto approximately 20 hours after Saturday’s final buzzer. The players showed no sign of fatigue in a dominant win over the Rangers, capped by Saini scoring his team-leading 40th and 41st goals of the season.
The captain got his side off to the perfect start, scoring just 36 seconds in after being teed up by Fink and Alex Bradshaw. He made sure of the result 3:10 into the third, beating Rangers goaltender Amir Valiullin on the powerplay on assists from Milic and affiliate player Kyle Butt, making his first appearance of the season.
Fullerton was again perfect, making 12 saves to secure his second shutout in as many nights.
“Never done that before,” Fullerton said of his back-to-back shutouts. “I was still feeling pretty good from the Caledon game, thought it was important to get as many quality minutes under my belt as possible before playoffs. I’m feeling good. We feel like we can take on anybody right now.”
The Huskies welcome the Toronto Jr. Canadiens to town March 2 for a matchup that could have significant playoff implications, before finishing the regular season March 3 on the road in Niagara Falls. Playoffs will begin the following week.
