Haliburton County Huskies centreman Nathan Poole said confidence is high inside the home locker room after the blue and white extended its Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) winning streak to four games this past weekend.
The 20-year-old, an off-season acquisition from the Ontario Hockey League’s Kingston Frontenacs, was in tremendous form Saturday as he put up five points in a 6-3 demolition of the Markham Royals at S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Centre.
The win propelled the hometown team to second in the East Conference, tied with Stouffville Spirit on 12 points with identical 6-3-0 records.
Four-hundred-and-fifteen fans were treated to an offensive spectacle capped by Poole’s one goal, four assist performance and a hattrick from 20-year-old winger Deandres De Jesus.
The Huskies took a while to grow into the game, finding themselves on the backfoot early on, Ethan Wright handing the Royals a powerplay opportunity six minutes in after being called for hooking. Corbin Votary stood tall in the home goal, turning away a couple of decent scoring chances.
Finding their groove midway through the period, the Huskies drew first blood – Adam Smeeton notching his fourth of the season at 10:27, assisted by Alex Bradshaw and Camron Hankai. Teen sensation Sam Black doubled the scoring five minutes later, with the 17-year-old helping himself to his seventh goal in as many games, assisted by Poole and Ty Petrou.
De Jesus added a pair of powerplay markers early in the second, teed up on both by Poole and blueliner Carson Littlejohn.
Markham showed some fight as the middle frame drew on, getting on the board at 8:21 through Josh Caloiero. Julian Mandarino briefly gave the visitors hope of a third period comeback, adding a second road goal at 18:01, before De Jesus completed his individual rout with another powerplay goal at 19:58.
The third was a largely tepid affair, with the result a formality. Ashton Miwa threatened another Royals revival 9:51 in but the Huskies held on, with Poole firing a late empty-netter with 42 seconds remaining on the clock.
Head coach and general manager Ryan Ramsay said it’s been encouraging seeing his young side make such a strong start to the season.
“Hats off to everyone. The guys are buying in, everyone is getting on the same page, which is giving us some positive results.
We’re getting some solid goaltending by both goalies as well – things have been great the last couple weeks,” he said.
He praised Poole and De Jesus for their contributions – the centreman is in a five-way tie atop the league’s points chart with 16 from 8 games. De Jesus is one of only six players to hit eight goals in the season’s opening month.
“[Poole’s] numbers speak for themselves, but he’s also a good kid in the locker room. He talks and works a lot with the younger guys. He was a good player in the OHL, and we were lucky to get him. Poolie has done everything we’ve asked for and more so far,” Ramsay said.
“With Deandres, I watched a lot of game tape on him over the summer. I remembered him from our games [with the Caledon Admirals] last year. He can score and he’s the hot hand in the league right now,” he added.
The coach said he expects young forward Chase Del Colombo to return for this weekend’s games with the Niagara Falls Canucks and Milton Menace. They host Niagara in Minden Oct. 5, puck drop at 4 p.m., and travel to the GTA Oct. 6.
