Senior Huskies win one and lose one as regular RHL season nears end

Sr. Huskies vs Lomond Lakers
C. Davis photos and video

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Pincher Creek's Senior Huskies continue to sit the bottom of the Ranchland Hockey League standings after two recent games.

On Saturday, January 12 the Huskies played an away game against the Fort Macleod Mustangs.  The Huskies won that one in overtime by a score of 5-4.  Kevin Olsen scored twice for the Huskies and Taylor Elliott got a hat trick, included the game winning overtime goal.  Scoring for the Mustangs were Greg Schimanski, Willy David, Tyce Gullamore, and Shay Prairie Chicken.  According to Taylor Elliott "It was a good game.  It was back and forth the whole game and then we  got ahead in the third, and they caught up. Luckily, we prevailed in overtime."

On Friday evening, January 18 the Senior Huskies hosted the Lomond Lakers at the MCC arena in Pincher Creek.  The Huskies got things off to a brisk start with an early goal at the 18:47 mark of the first period.  Hayden Shackel passed the puck from the Lakers' goal line to Cody Jurgens near the blueline.  Jurgens slapped it to Huskies Captain Mason Bond, who tipped it in, putting the Huskies ahead 1-0.  Jurgens got the assist on the play.  The Huskies have really pulled their passing play together compared to earlier in the season, and this was a fine example of that.  At the 12:52 mark Lomond tied it after a nice pass by Captain Josh Wiest to Nowal Pierson who was waiting at the net.  Shortly after that at the 12:04 mark the Huskies made it 2-1 with a very similar play. Mack Jordan passed it to Hayden Shackel who in turn passed it to Taylor Elliott who was in position to send it home.


Pay attention to the replay, kids. Those last two goals mentioned above were textbook examples of how it's done.

  At the 8:37 mark some rough stuff broke out, resulting in a time out for two Lakers and one of the Huskies.  At the 7:52 mark Lomond's Josh Wiest was well on his way to a breakaway goal when someone sent him on a little trip.  Wiest was awarded a penalty shot, and his success at that brought the score to 2-2.  The Huskies dominated the remainder of the period.  Mason Bond scored another goal assisted by Taylor Elliott.  3-2.  Then Shawn Robertson scored with only 55 seconds left in the period.  He was assisted by Mack Jordan.  The score stood at 4-2 in the Huskies' favor at the end of the first.

Something happened to the Huskies in the intermission between the first and second periods.  My pet theory is that some awful vortex of hockey evil sucked them back to November 2012 when they were still shiny new as a team.  Whatever the cause, they gave away the second period.  Their passes failed to connect, their teamwork fell apart in general, they stopped making the big hits, they stopped getting to the puck first, and Lomond ran right over them.   Mike Whitequills scored for the Lakers at the 18:45 mark, assisted by Rustin Murray and Kyle Sargent.   4-2.  Then Josh Wiest scored his second and third goals of the game, assisted by Rustin Murray, Maverick Blair, and Nowal Pierson.  That put the Lakers ahead 5-4.  Taylor Elliot scored for the Huskies at the 9:55 mark, assisted by Mason Bond to tie it 5-5.  That was the lone Huskies goal for the period.  After that Cam Hurt of the Lakers scored assisted by Kyle Sargent, followed by an unassisted goal by Nowal Pierson.  At the end of the second the score stood at 7-5 in Lomond's favor.

The third period was dynamic, with both teams battling hard throughout.  Hayden Shackel scored unassisted at the 14:57 mark.   7-6.  Cam Hurt scored for the Lakers assisted by Josh Wiest at the 6:24 mark.  8-6.  Sealing the deal, with 3:06 left in the game Wiest scored, assisted by Hurt and Manny Yellowfly.  That was all she wrote, and the Lakers went home with a 9-6 win to their credit.

"We've noticed that our second period has always been our worst period, and we've been trying to work on that," said Huskies' Taylor Elliott after the game.

Curtis Billsten is currently the top scorer in the league with 25 goals and 15 assists in 11 games played.  Josh Wiest of the Lakers is in second place with 15 goals and 17 assists in 12 games.  Close behind him in third place is Talor Elliott  with 14 goals and 15 assists in 12 games.

The Senior Huskies will be hosting the Nanton Palominos at the MCC arena in Pincher Creek on Saturday evening, January 26, starting at 8:00 pm.