After suffering a brutal 8-2 defeat on home ice in Saturday’s Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) curtain-raiser in Minden, Haliburton County Huskies head coach Ryan Ramsay said it’s going to take some time for his young charges to adapt to the junior game.
Welcoming the heavily favoured Leamington Flyers, who won the exhibition Cottage Cup during pre-season, to town, the Huskies kept things competitive through the first half of the game.
It was only after veteran forwards Nathan Poole and Tyler Oletic left the ice through injury that the hometown club lost its grip on the game. Already missing Ty Petrou, who finished second in team scoring last season, Ramsay had no option but to turn to some of his budding starlets.
“There were some positives for us – rarely in a game do you see seven individual mistakes capitalized on. It wasn’t like they played through us, that there’s big problems with our systems. It was some missed assignments from players, but that’s what happens when you’re a little bit young,” Ramsay said.
“When you’re already a little light up front, like we are, losing the experienced heads we do have can make things tough, which I think showed in the second half of the game,” the head coach added.
Oletic is week-to-week with a shoulder injury, but both Poole and Petrou are day-today. Ramsay hopes to have the pair back this weekend when the Huskies host the North York Rangers (Sept. 14) and travel to the Toronto Jr. Canadiens (Sept. 15).
The opening period with the Flyers saw home goalie Corbin Votary and visiting netminder Marcus Vandenberg put on a goaltending clinic, combining to make 19 saves.
Votary made several key stops to keep the scores level but could do nothing to prevent Anthony Ciaramitaro from opening the scoring late in the first, notching on the powerplay at 19:28 after the Huskies’ Jake Salvatore was sent to the box for slashing.
The Huskies started the second with a powerplay opportunity of their own and took full advantage, Poole sniping his first official goal with the blue and white just 27 seconds in. The special team marker was assisted by Carson Littlejohn and Adam Smeeton.
Forty-four seconds later and the puck was in the back of the net again, this time from the stick of the talented Deandres De Jesus, assisted by Smeeton and Poole.
Griffin Grunder tied things up a minute later, notching at 2:20. Poole left the game following his second shift and the floodgates opened – Adrian Bosev re-established the Flyers’ lead at 5:14 before Brody Cook made it a two-goal game, scoring on the powerplay at 12:17. Ethan Tatomir fired in a fifth for Leamington at 15:31.
It was one-way traffic in the final frame with the Flyers adding three further goals – Colton Smith scoring on the powerplay at 4:59, Bosev helping himself to a second at 8:30, and Brayden Degelas finishing things at 19:54.
Votary, who made 28 saves, was replaced in the Huskies net by Carter Nadon after the sixth goal, with Nadon giving up two goals on 15 shots.
Ramsay said he was disappointed with the manner of the defeat.
“You’re not going to win every game, which is fine, but when we break down video for four or five days and players are just missing assignments, it’s tough. We have a young team, and for rookies I think it takes 10 or 15 games to figure things out, to see if you’re capable of playing junior hockey. That might sound harsh, but it’s the way junior hockey goes,” Ramsay said.
“The injuries didn’t help. We had rookies who should be playing fourth line up on the second and third lines, so everyone was moved around. But if guys want to earn a bigger role, this is their opportunity,” he added.
There was a new face in the lineup Wednesday (Sept. 11) when the Huskies faced the Mississauga Steelers on the road (results unavailable as of press time). Seventeen-year-old forward Sam Black joins the Huskies after failing to make the Barrie Colts’ roster. He was a fourth-round selection in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection.
“After that loss he’s going to get a great opportunity. I see him fitting into our top nine,” Ramsay said.
