Season ends for Midget Huskies

Chris Davis

The 2013/14 season ended last weekend for Pincher Creek's Midget Huskies after a second round playoff overtime 4-3 loss to Coaldale's Cobras on the evening of Friday February 28 and a 7-6 overime * loss the next day in Coaldale.

Back on November 15 the Huskies blanked Coaldale 6-0, at a time when the Huskies were 7 games into a winning streak that kept on going right to the very end of the regular season. Huskies head coach Kent Goodreau still cautioned at that time that the Cobras were not a team to take lightly. During this second round of Spud League playoffs that proved to be very true.

After seeing the Huskies be challenged so infrequently over the course of the regular season it was a real pleasure to see them up against such sharply focused competition.   The Cobras were up 2-zip with goals from Jesse Cajka and Jesse Shoemaker before Huskies #23 Craig Marshall put one on the board with a well executed penalty shot.  Not the way Huskies like to make points, but a hometown crowd-pleaser nonetheless.  The Cobras maintained a relentless offence throughout the period, keeping the puck in the Huskies' end zone with a regular frequency.  Huskies goalie Jeremy Kretz pulled out all the stops to keep the score down.  The period ended with the Cobras still ahead, 2-1. 

The Huskies had it figured out in the second, upping their passing play, turning their reflexes up, playing with a renewed sense of purpose.  Whatever happened during intermission worked.  So did Crig Marshall, who scored his second goal of the game, and the only goal of the second, at the 17:43 mark, assisted by Marc Sciarra.  Things started to get more chippy near the end of the second, which ended 2-2.

Derek Tarcon of the Huskies broke the impasse, scoring at the 14:13 mark, assisted by Blair Goodreau, 3-2 Huskies.  Despite lots of back and forth and a couple of overworked goalies that stood until, with 8:11 remaining in the period Cobras Captain Travis Paiha scored, assisted by Jesse Cajka, to tie it 3-3.  There it stayed until the buzzer.

8:11 must be Paiha's lucky number, because he won the game for the Cobras with a goal at 8:11 remaining in 10 minute overtime with a rumbly long shot from near the red line that jiggered its way into the Huskies net, 4-3 Cobras, season over Huskies.

Somebody had to win it.

"It was a tough game," said Huskies head coach Kent Goodreau afterwards.  "Coaldale came out and played well, and we played well too, we had a couple of posts there on the powerplay, if one of those went in it would have been a whole different game.  I do believe we outshot them by quite a bit.  Slow starting again for the boys, turned it up in the second, in the third we played really well and it could have went either way tonight."

These two teams are so close in talent and style of play as to be almost indistinguishable at times.  On this night the Cobras got the bounce, and they move forward in their quest for Provincials glory.  A 6-3 win for the Cobras the next day in Coaldale gave them the playoff round win.

Once again both teams gave us one heck of a good show.  Thanks.

The Midget Huskies played a great season, despite some dramatic injuries and tribulations along the way.  The building blocks of this season are going to make for a solid foundation next season.

*correction