After dispatching the St. Michael’s Buzzers four games to two in the first round of the playoffs, the Haliburton County Huskies are preparing for a tough match-up against the Toronto Junior Canadiens in round two.
After getting back from Toronto March 16, the coaching staff was back at it March 17, watching video of their second-round opponents.
The Canadiens beat the Huskies three of four games this season: the blue and white won the first Sept. 15 by a tidy score of 4-0, dropped a Nov. 10 tilt 1-0, were bested 6-1 Jan. 11 and doubled 6-3 on Feb. 8.
Coach Ryan Ramsay said, “we’re only one and three against them this year, but the last game was right after the trade deadline and no one really knew what they were doing. And the Nov. 10 game was close.”
That said, the coach and general manager conceded, “they’re definitely a good team.
“They are similar to us; the way they’re built. It should be a great series.”
While the bench bosses watch video, some of the underutilized players are getting on the practice ice this week. Others are licking wounds from a tough run down the stretch and six games against the Buzzers. The recovery time is welcome.
As to what they are seeing on video, “we are going to tweak some things and have a game plan and hopefully we can stick to it,” Ramsay said.
“They have a lot of scoring, their power play is really good, if there are turnovers, they can score. They put up some numbers in that last series [beating the Cobourg Cougers in five games]. They’re a very skilled, fast, team blessed with lots of offence, so we’re going to have to limit turnovers and powerplays.”
During short practices, the plan is to “work on what we need to do better and some things JRC does that we need to stop.”
Buzzers beaters
The Huskies closed off the series against St. Michael’s on the road March 16. Daniel Vasic scored his first of the post-season, at 5:33 of the first, assisted by Noah Lodoen. It was all the scoring the Huskies needed. Goalie Tyler Hodges shut the door, turning aside all 34 shots he faced.
The team was unable to close out at home, March 15, dropping a close 2-1 decision. Nathan Poole got the dogs on the board at just 13 seconds of the second period, with Tai York getting the dish. But the Buzzers scored at 45 seconds of the third to even things up. They cemented it with a late, 17:56 goal.
On March 13, the Huskies took another close one, by a score of 3-2. This one was a comeback after the Buzzers scored two first period goals. But, in the second, the Huskies tied it up. Nolan Ling scored at 3:04, from Alex Bradshaw and Deandres De Jesus; and Tai York potted the other at 11:29, from Poole and Ty Petrou. York scored the game winner at 3:18 of the third, from Petrou and Luke Hampel.
Ramsay said, “we’ll take the (series) 4-2 win. Are we playing our best hockey right now? No.”
However, playoffs are unpredictable, he added.
“We’ve had a lot of goals scored this year, which is great, but in this series, I think at one point our leading scorer going into game four didn’t have a point in the series. There are always other guys that step up, which is great, and shows the depth we’ve been talking about with this group that we haven’t had with other groups. And, Hodges has been great. You can’t think about going far in playoffs without having the goaltending, and we have that.”
