RHL Huskies defeat Palominos for two in a row at home to end regular season

• RHL Huskies win two in a row at home going into playoffs
• Huskies defeat Palominos 7-5
• Lomond Lakers win their first league title since 1994

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Pincher Creek's RHL Huskies hosted Nanton's Palominos on Saturday evening February 15. The Huskies won 7-5.  The victory was significant for several reasons.  It was the first time this new team has won two in a row (at home even). It was the last game of regular season, and the Huskies are at the bottom of the RHL standings.  Two wins in a row has given Huskies fans the chance to speculate on how far this team can take it this season.  The winner of the RHL playoffs will go to Morinville for the 2013-2014 Senior Men's Provincials.  

Huskies vs Lakers

Hasselman handling it for the Huskies

A particularly strong second period won this one for the Huskies.  Local chanteuse Alexandra Morgan opened the game with a marvellous rendition of 'O Canada'.  Canadian Picker Sheldon Smithens was in the house to check it out.

Trevor O'Neil of the Palominos scored the first goal of the game, 5:31 into the first period.  Chris Burns and Steve McMasters picked up assists.  A little dustup occurred about 8 minutes in.  Then, just past the halfway mark with 9:24 remaining Alex Elliott scored a power play goal for the Huskies to tie it 1-1.  That was Elliott's 20th goal of the season.  Assisting him were Hayden Shackel and Mason Bond.  That exact combination made it 2-1 for the Huskies 4:10 into the second period, with the assist credit reversed, and short handed instead of on a power play.  4:40 into the second it was tied again, this time at 2-2, after a powe rplay goal by Palomino Greg Martin, assisted by Kolton Brown and Chris Berns.  The rest of the second period belonged to the Huskies.  

The Potts check out the game

At 6:54 into the second Byron Jackson scored for the Huskies, assisted by Mason Bond and Darin Kay.  3-2 Huskies.  Then Alex Elliott cranked in another, hat trick for him, assist to Joey Gibboney. 4-2 Huskies.  Then Huskies young gun Brett Tarcon sank one, assisted by goalie Joel Hasselman and Gibboney.  I missed that one, would love to hear how it  happened.  5-2 Huskies to end the period.

Canadian Picker Sheldon Smithens (far right) takes in the game

The third period was more of the same even contest we'd seen for most of the game.  3:32 into the period Otis Potts widened the Huskies lead to 6-2, assisted by Hasselman.  That was answered by Brodie  Eisbrenner of the Palominos on a power play, assisted by Tom Mikrut and Eddie Tracy. 6-3.  Mikrut scored at 7:18 into the period, assisted by Kolton Brown.  6-4.  

O Canada

The Huskies' lead was being whittled away, and fatigue appeared to be a factor, as did the clock, with the period not half way through yet.  At 8:53 Alex Elliott widened it again by one with his 4th goal of the game and his 23rd of the season, assisted by Mason Bond, making it 7-4 Huskies.  A late-game goal by Nanton defenceman Colin Macmurdo brought it to 7-5, which is where it stood for the remaining moments to the final buzzer.

Nanton's Eddie Tracy got a 10 minute misconduct and 2 minute hit to the head penalty in the last minute of play, the biggest penalties of the game,  file under "Too late, chill out".

Huskies goalie Joel Hasselman stopped 40 of the 45 shots aimed his way.  Hasselman currently has an 87% saves average. For Nanton, Barrett Timber stopped 13 of 17 (88% for the season) and Tyler Hughes stopped 8 of 11 (89% for the season, 6 games played).  Hasselman was named goalie of the month for January with a then 93% saves average.

Stars of the Game:

1. 1 Joel Hasselman, Huskies
2. 21 Alex Elliott, Huskies
3. 10 Sam Quinlan, Huskies

I asked Huskies GM Jeff Kaupp if this was a positive sign for the upcoming playoffs.  "Good way to go into it, for sure. Two game win streak," he said.  What got them this far?  "Our tenacity, and our willingness to go toward playoffs.  Never give up.  It's been our theme all year," he replied.  "Just the beauty of the underdog, and the upsetters take the top team off of their game and come away with as many wins as possible."

Town of Pincher Creek Councillor Wayne Elliott is a regular at Huskies games

Four teams compete in the RHL this season.  Lomond's Lakers, Nanton's Palominos, Fort Macleod's Mustangs, and our own Senior Huskies.

The Huskies have proven themselves capable of defeating the Palominos and the Mustangs.  The Lakers are definitely a major challenge this season.  The Huskies have been within one point of tying Lomond several times this season, but a win over the Lakers has so far eluded them. They'll get a chance on Friday February 21 when they're scheduled to travel to Lomond to face the Lakers for the first playoff game, game time 8:30.

The Huskies could be poised to turn their underdog status into a major turnaround for the playoffs, the only games that really matter statistically for the RHL this season.   They have a particularly good chance of doing so if everyone shows up for the games.

The ladies of the concession.  Angels with french fries.

No matter what, it was obvious over the course of the last three home games that the Huskies have matured, going from being young and inexperienced as a team to what they are now, a much more melded unit with plenty of experience and some young fire and horsepower on the bench.  Prepare for surprises.