With the exception of an Oct. 25 blip – a 6-2 loss to the Pickering Panthers on the road – the Haliburton County Huskies continue to show dominance in the OJHL East Conference – winning their other two weekend games.
The Huskies remain on top of their division, with a sizzling record of 15 wins and four losses, for 30 points. That is a 0.789 winning percentage, in which they have outscored their opponents 80 to 52. They are on another two-game winning streak.
They only trail the Leamington Flyers by a single point out of the league’s 24 teams.
The team was in 10th place in the Canadian Junior Hockey League rankings as of this week’s Oct. 28 release.
Something had to give after a torrid 11 game winning streak heading to Pickering Friday night. The Huskies flagged against the seventh place Panthers. However, the blue and white rebounded with a convincing win over the St. Mike’s Buzzers on home ice Saturday afternoon, and an expected victory over last place North York on the road.
Corbin Votary recorded his second shutout of the season Sunday night. His first was Sept. 15 versus the Toronto Junior Canadians, the inaugural of his junior career.
“Obviously, it’s not just me putting in all the work, but it’s definitely a good feeling after, knowing that the team did a good job in front of you, most of the time, to make it a lot easier for myself. It’s definitely a good feeling.”
It was also a comeback for the young goalie after being pulled in the second period of Friday night’s game in Pickering.
“We were on a heater (11 game winning streak), and maybe we just got a bit complacent going into that game. Obviously, I didn’t have the best game, but we bounced back Saturday. Going into Sunday was a good bounce back game for me. I performed well and so did the team.”
The netminder was asked about teams peaking too soon in a season.
“I think coach (Ryan Ramsay) is doing a good job in practice. We’re all giving 100 per cent each and every day, keep moving forward and getting better each day. Definitely feeling good and starting this new streak now.”
Votary said his personal challenge is to stay calm and collected in net, and not try to overplay. “Just staying in between the posts and try to get my body in front of everything.”
Huskies 8 Rangers 0
A dominant Huskies squad brought their A game to North York Oct. 27, thumping the home side 8-0.
The goal parade started just 18 seconds in, as Isaac Larmand notched his sixth, from Kaiden Thatcher and Carson Littlejohn. Just over a minute later, Adam Smeeton bulged the twine, his fifth of the year, with helpers from Noah Lodoen and Littlejohn.
At 7:52, the rout was on – Deandres De Jesus scored his 11th, from Ty Petrou and Camron Hankai.
The second saw tallies from Petrou (Alex Bradshaw and Nathan Poole); Littlejohn (Petrou, Poole); and Ryder Dagenais (unassisted) just over the half way mark of the second. Hankai made it a 7-0 game with three seconds left on the second-period clock, thanks to Sam Black and Curtis Allen dishes.
Poole put the finishing touches on this one at 5:36 of the third, from Thatcher and Petrou.
Huskies 3 Buzzers 1
The St. Michael’s Buzzers opened the scoring in an Oct. 26 game at S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena. Ethan Nobes stung the home side at 3:21 of the first. The period ended with the visitors up 1-0.
In the second, the Huskies got on the board with Hankai banging one in at 5:36, from Larmand and Allen, to notch it at ones.
In the third, Petrou, scoring from Littlejohn and Dagenais at 7:16, recorded the game-winning goal. Bradshaw sealed the deal with an empty-netter with one second left on the clock.
Carter Nadon turned aside 32 of 33 shots.
Panthers 6 Huskies 2
The Pickering Panthers ended the Huskies’ 11-game winning streak at their home barn Oct. 25.
Petrou opened the scoring for the blue and white, at 9:04 of the first, from Thatcher and Poole. Less than five minutes later, the Panthers answered on a Zijian Zhou tally. However, Dagenais gave the Huskies a 2-1 lead at 15:12 of the first, with assists to Peter Saroglou and Lodoen.
But the Panthers dominated the rest of the game, with five unanswered goals to make it a 6-2 finish.
Next up:
The Huskies host the Cobourg Cougars at S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena Nov. 2. Puck drop 4 p.m. They then hit the road Nov. 3 for a tilt against the Markham Royals.
Schedule change:
The Nov. 19 game versus Wellington has been changed to Nov. 14. 7 p.m. puck drop.
