It’s six wins on the bounce for the Haliburton County Huskies as they keep pace with the Trenton Golden Hawks – this weekend’s visitors to S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena – atop the OJHL East Conference.
The blue and white were embroiled in a pair of high-scoring barnburners this past weekend, besting the Niagara Falls Canucks 4-3 on home ice Saturday before a 5-4 road win over the Milton Menace on Sunday.
The explosive Huskies are the league’s most in-form team, boasting the longest active winning streak and helping themselves to a boat load of goals – 29 in the last six games.
Forward Ty Petrou, an alternate captain this season, said the hometown team is heading into every game confident of getting a right result, having embraced head coach Ryan Ramsay’s brand of quick, hard-hitting hockey.
“We’re a bigger team, we play hard – there’s almost an intimidation factor there for the other teams when they see how big our team is. We come out and play physical hockey every night,” Petrou said. “We’re an in-your-face hockey team and a lot of teams don’t like that. We want to outwork the other team every single time. We expect to do that.”
In his second and final season with the Huskies, 20-year-old Petrou has enjoyed a productive start to the new season, with 12 points in 10 games. He’s one of four players on a point-per-game pace, alongside Nathan Poole (21 points in 10 games), blueliner Carson Littlejohn (11 points in 11 games) and rookie winger Sam Black (10 points in nine games).
With an ‘A’ stitched to his chest this season – one of three alternate captains alongside Poole and defenceman Raine Nadeau – Petrou said he’s enjoyed taking on a bigger role in the locker room.
“It’s a huge honour to be one of the leaders on this team. It means a lot that the coach and teammates see that, that they trust me to be a leader and take over the room when things need to be said. That’s big for me, holding one another accountable,” Petrou said.
Huskies 4 Niagara Falls 3
The Huskies number 94 made a quick impression on the Canucks Saturday, breaking the deadlock after just 35 seconds. Petrou was assisted by Ryan Fairbairn and Ethan Wright, to the delight of the 412 home fans.
Black added a quickfire second at 3:53, assisted by Poole, for his eighth goal of the campaign.
Niagara fought back, potting a pair of goals either side of the first intermission to tie the game midway through the second. Fairbairn re-established the Huskies lead 14:17 into the middle frame, assisted by Poole and Black.
Littlejohn got in on the action in the third, adding a powerplay marker at 8:40 for his second goal of the season. That stood as the game-winner – the Canucks added a late consolation, but the Huskies held on.
Huskies 5 Milton 4
This was a big special teams battle in the city, with the Huskies scoring on two of three powerplay opportunities and Milton putting up three goals on the man advantage.
It looked like being a comfortable evening for the blue and white – Chase Del Colombo established a lead 6:20 into the first, assisted by Isaac Larmand, before Poole and Larmand added two quick powerplay markers at 10:17 and 11:59. The Menace got on the board at 13:44 with a powerplay goal of their own.
Fairbairn added some gloss to the scoreline 5:15 into the second frame, but Milton roared back with a pair of goals – at 7:41 and 18:37 – to keep things close heading into the third. Petrou looked to have killed the game off after being found by Poole 8:35 into the final frame, with the secondary assist going to goaltender Corbin Votary, but Milton added another powerplay marker at 10:49 to make for a nervy finish.
“We’re figuring out the team we can be… everybody is contributing and filling their roles. If we keep doing that, the sky’s the limit,” Petrou said.
The Huskies have a road tilt with the Aurora Tigers Oct. 11 before a top-of-the-table clash with the Trenton Golden Hawks Oct. 12. Puck drop is 4 p.m.
