Double wins for Midget Huskies against Fort Macleod Mustangs

Midget Huskies vs Mustangs - Jeremy Kretz stops another
C. Davis photos/J. Jackson video

Joey Jackson

The Midget Huskies hosted the Fort Macleod Mustangs on the evening of Tuesday February 17 for an extremely close game that ended with the Huskies winning 2-0. It was the second of two Provincials qualifiers for the two teams, the Huskies also winning their first encounter 9-1. The Huskies have one more regular season game scheduled, tonight Friday February 20 at the MCC arena, starting at 8 pm, when they will host Picture Butte's Blades.

The Huskies pulled ahead early to be up by 1 for a majority of Tuesday's game, and then later in the 3rd the Huskies caught a break and got a goal from a deflection off a Mustangs player that found its way into the back of the net. Not managing to score on Huskies goalie Jeremy Kretz wasn't Fort Macleod's only problem. After a play that went wrong and ended up being a stoppage in play a few Mustangs players started to fight on their own bench, quickly stopped by their head coach.

Levi Anderson scored the Huskies' first goal early on, stunning Mustangs goalie Nathe Cole with a huge slapshot from the blue line for a power play goal. Levi also rang a shot off the post at the beginning of the second period. Nic Jordan was credited with the goal that was deflected off the helmet of Mustangs Captain Eric Maskowitz. The slapshot came from the blue line and after it bounced of Eric's helmet it rocketed to Mustangs goalie Nathe Cole's top shelf, which he had no real chance of stopping. Huskies goaltender Jeremy Kretz had to work hard all night to secure his shutout and also had a lot of help from his defence, who were desperately clearing pucks and blocking shots all night. The Fort Macleod Mustangs had a one of the best nights they could have asked for from Nathe Cole, who had to make some amazing saves to keep the game close until the end.

Huskies head coach Kent Goodreau said after the game that “In the first period our guys were a little tired from this weekend, and their hearts just weren't in it. But after that we got back into the game and started to play better.” The Huskies had reason to be tired after an eventful weekend where they travelled to Great Falls for the Casey Cup tournament, coming home with the top prize. The Huskies had one of the closed and most exciting games of their season in the tournament, playing Claresholm in the semi final, a game that went to a shootout that took 11 players before Chaz Vance* was able to put it to an end, scoring for the Huskies. Coach Goodreau said that the excitement and energy from that win carried them through to the final where they shutout Calgary South 6-0 to win their second Casey Cup in the last 3 years.

Now the Huskies look ahead to their next challenge, when they may play their toughest games yet when they face Vulcan in the next round of Provincials. Vulcan has had a very similar season to the Huskies, in that they haven't faced much in the way of losses yet, and each team will be looking to show the other what that feels like when they play in early March.

*correction to spelling