Things are looking up for the new-look Haliburton County Huskies, who have won two out of three games over the past week to move up to fifth in the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s East Conference.
The Huskies pulled off road wins over the Niagara Falls Canucks Nov. 21 and St. Michael’s Buzzers Nov. 23, before dropping a close game to the King Rebellion Nov. 25. Those results saw the team leapfrog the Buzzers in the standings, with the Huskies three points back of the Pickering Panthers in fourth. The team has racked up 29 points in 27 games, with a record of 12 wins, 10 losses, four overtime defeats, and one tie.
After a shaky start to the season, the Huskies have won five games in November, tied one, and lost three – to Buffalo, Georgetown and King – by a single goal. Head coach Jordan Bailey said it’s been a major turnaround, inspired by several new additions.
“I think we’re playing better hockey. We have that buy-in and belief, which can be a really good combo,” Bailey said. “I like the way we’re playing. Even against King, I thought we controlled most of the game, they just took advantage on our breakdowns. Against teams of that calibre, it’s those little mistakes that punish you,” Bailey said.
After a four-game roadstand, the Huskies bench boss is excited to get back to S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena this weekend, with the hometown team hosting the Cobourg Cougars on Saturday, with a 4 p.m. puck drop, and Newmarket Hurricanes Sunday, with a 2 p.m. puck drop. “It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve been at home, a couple weeks, so it’ll be nice to have that eagerness of the fans in the rink cheering the guys on,” Bailey said.
Impressive wins
The Huskies were dominant from the first whistle to the last against Niagara Falls last Friday, coming away with a 6-1 win. A hat-trick from fourth-liner Lewis Hergaarden inspired the Huskies to victory, with new arrival Liam Oravsky adding to his monstrous points total – a powerplay goal and two assists taking him to 14 points in eight games since joining the blue and white.
Kieran Raynor and Chase Del Colombo also found the scoresheet, with Nic Ferrante, Jack Cook and Daniel Vasic each recording two assists. Other helpers went to Mike Mardula and Josh Hutton.
Bailey said it was nice to see players in his bottom six stepping up, with several of the Huskies top stars missing through illness.
“We’ve had the flu bug going through the room, there’s been six to eight guys really struggling for the past week or so,” Bailey said. “We’re getting that secondary scoring, though. Anytime you can roll out four lines and get production from all four, you become a very hard team to play against.”
The Huskies left it late to overcome St. Mike’s on Sunday, with Del Colombo potting the overtime game-winner in a 4-3 win.
Ryan Gosse scored his eighth of the season to level the game late in the first, following an early St. Mike’s opener, with Raynor giving the Huskies the lead six minutes into the second. A Max Mahoney pair, the second a penalty shot scored shorthanded, gave St. Mike’s a lead to hold onto, but Isaac Larmand leveled on the powerplay late in the period. There was no scoring in the third.
King 3-2 Huskies
Tuesday’s tilt was a tight game between two emerging powers – King sits in fifth in the West Conference after winning four of its last five games.
The Huskies took the lead midway through the first, Carson Durnin scoring his second goal in blue and white from Oravsky. King responded with two goals before the end of the first, scoring twice on 12 shots against Huskies netminder Owen Edwards.
Gosse tied the game at 19:01 of the second frame, assisted by Raynor and Easton Poe, but Lachlan Larman struck the game-winner at 10:51 of the final frame, teed up by former Husky Antonio Cerqua.
“I thought we played good enough to win, but things just didn’t go our way,” Bailey said.
