Senior Huskies put one in the "Win" column

Senior Huskies vs Lomond Lakers
C. Davis photo and video

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Pincher Creek's Senior Huskies romped to a 12-6 win over the Lomond Lakers in a home game played at the MCC arena on Saturday evening, December 1.  It was the first win ever for the newly minted Huskies.  Adding to the significance, the Lomond Lakers are currently at the top of the RHL standings, and the Huskies are in the basement.  With only four teams in the league, the climb to the top doesn't seem too impossible for the Huskies, particularly now that they seem to have worked out many of the bugs any brand new team faces.  Adding to the good-news score for the Huskies, they're attracting the largest crowds in the league, and this night was no exception despite the fact that a number of large events were underway in town at the same time.

It went like this:

The Lakers took control of the puck after the first faceoff, and 28 seconds later Lakers #12 Mike Whitequills scored, assisted by #7 Cam Hurt. The rest of the first period pretty much belonged to the Huskies.  At the 17:55 mark Huskies Captain #15 Mason Bond scored off a slick pass from #7 Taylor Elliott, with #19 Hayen Shackel also picking up an assist on the play.  1-1.  Another nice demonstration of passing led to a goal by Elliott at the 14:06 mark, with Bond and Hurt picking up assists.  This trio has turned into a remarkable combination.  2-1 for the Huskies.  At the 14:04 mark the rough stuff started in earnest, with a penalty assessed to both sides.  At the 13:40 mark Huskies #20 Cody Jurgens rocked one in, assisted by #9 Kevin Olson.  3-1.  Shortly after that at the 12:15 mark Elliott scored his second of the game, assisted by Bond and Shackel. 4-1.  By this point the Lakers were seeming a bit flustered, perhaps wondering how it was getting away from them so fast.  Huskies starting goalie #1 Joel Hasselman made a significant difference, fending off multiple attempts.  At the 8:54 mark Mason Bond got his second goal of the game, with the Huskies playing shorthanded, assisted by Elliott.  5-1. The Lakers managed to rally in the declining minutes of the game, and with 1:42 in the period #15 Dave Foord scored for them, assisted by Mike Whitequills, and the score stood at 5-2 for the Huskies at the close of the period.

From the cheap seats it really seemed like the Huskies came out to win it, and put everything they had into that objective from the get-go.  There was a major improvement evident in their passing plays and in their ability to trust in the other guy to be in the right spot at the right time.  Lomond demonstrated a lot of passing play finesse as well, perhaps one of the main reasons they're on top of the standings.

The second period was marked by dust-ups more than by scoring, with the Lakers gathering 22 minutes of penalty time compared to the Huskies with 4.  Despite the frequent advantage that afforded the Huskies, they were playing tired and didn't manage to capitalize on it as much as they perhaps could have.  At the 14:41 mark Huskies #15 Mason Bond earned himself a hat-trick, assisted once again by Elliott and Shackel, to bring the score to 6-2.  An unassisted goal by Whitequills for the Lakers, his second of the game, brought it to 6-3 and turned into a bit of a brouhaha at the net.  "Hit the Road Jack" played over the PA as Lakers #23 Devery Edmonds was sent to his room to contemplate his behaviour.  Business at the penalty box was brisk for the rest of the period. With 7:56 remaining in the period Lomond's #21 Dustin Brosz scored a freakish "never say die" goal while lying prone on the ice, with his team shorthanded, bringing the score to 6-4.  Cam Hurt got an assist on that one, and that brought the scoring to an end for the period.

In the third period both teams settled back into the game, with far fewer penalties breaking up the play on the Lomond side.  Lomond's Cade Lamb got an early goal in the third period at the 17:47 mark, assisted by Brosz and Hurt.  6-5 and the hometown fans were beginning to get anxious.  A mere 23 seconds later Huskies #2 Travis McNabb scored, assisted by Kevin Olson and #14 Wiley Handford. 7-5.  The Huskies hammered the Lomond net relentlessly.  Finally at the 13:34 mark #17 Shawn Robertson scored.  Taylor Elliott got the assist.  8-5.  Elliott decided he needed a hat trick too, getting one right off a faceoff at the 12:06 mark, assisted by Mason Bond.  9-5.  The hometown crowd started to sense the real possibility of victory.  At the 9:35 mark Kevin Olson made the most of a rebound, 10-5, with #6 Joey Gibboney and Taylor Elliott getting assists.  At the 5:24 mark Shackel collected a beautiful pass from Olson to rocket one in, 11-5, with Olson and Elliott getting assists.  Lomond rallied enough for Dustin Brosz to score once more with only 5:02 left in the game, assisted by #5 Manny Yellowfly.  11-6.  With only 1:39 left in the game Taylor Elliott scored for the Huskies, assisted by Cody Jurgens.  A few seconds later Lomond's Cade Lamb got ejected from the game for silly stuff, specially silly since a Huskies win was inevitable by that point.

Final score: Huskies 12, Lakers 6.

A tip of the hat to the 2 or 3 Lakers players who had the class to stay on the ice to shake hands even when the rest of their team stalked off at the end of the game.

Coming away from the game there was a definite sense that the Huskies have passed an important hurdle in the development of the team.  The Huskies are still at the bottom of the standings, but at least now they can look up.  The season is going to get a lot more interesting from here on out.

Some stats:

Taylor Elliott of the Huskies is in second place on the Overall Leaders list for points, with 7 goals and 11 assists in 8 games played totalling 18 points, just 3 points behind Nanton's Curtis Billsten.  Those 11 assists have also made him the Assists leader.  He's also the Rookie Points, Goals, and Assists Leader of the league.  He's the Home Player Streaks leader as well.

Hayden Shackel, Mason Bond, and Kevin Olson are in 6th, 7th, and 8th places respectively on the Overall Leaders list.


Huskies Head Coach Ray Goasdoue was obviously pleased with the win, in his own laid back way.  "It's good," he said. "A long time coming.  I think we needed to get back home and play a home game here, that seemed to help.  We've been missing some guys too because of this and that, and everybody was back, pretty much everybody tonight, so that helps out."

"They seemed to be ready to play tonight."

Goasdue said the win should be good for the team's spirit.  "I think it gives them a lot more confidence now.  Lomond is the number one team in the league."

I asked him what it meant to him to have a senior team in Pincher Creek again. "The last time I played was when the Huskies folded," he replied.  "That's 25 years ago. It's been a long time coming.  I wanted senior hockey back here for a long time. It's good to see again. It gives these guys somewhere to play, these guys coming out of Midget...These guys don't belong playing rec hockey, they belong playing senior hockey, competitive hockey, because they're good players, they're young."


Next games for the Senior Huskies:

• On Friday, December 7 the Huskies play an away game against Nanton, starting at 8:30 pm.
• On Saturday, December 8 they bring it back home again for a game against Fort Macleod, starting at 8:30 pm at the MCC arena.