Saturday, February 14, 2009

Huskies clinch second

The Huskies played as good a game as they have played all year last night as they easily beat the Peace River Navigators 7 - 1 in a must win situation. The victory clinches second place in the NWJHL and home ice in the first two rounds of the playoffs for the Huskies. The D was solid all night, nice to have Cash Brinkworth back in the lineup, and made almost every little play that the D men have to make. Wongstedt really played well and stepped up in the second period and really created the first two goals of that period with his skating and stick handling ability. He scored one and set up the second and before the Navs knew what had hit them it was 3 - 1. Two more in that period for the Huskies, the fourth goal of the period came with just 0.6 left on the clock, and it was 5 - 1 after two and the Huskies were cruising. Zach Blain was very solid in net and at times was forced to make some pretty difficult saves but for the most part the puck was at the other end of the ice. The Huskies fore-check and cycle were both working well and despite the second line being held in check and no points for Cody Kalb the pups still skated out of Peace River with the big W.

Man was it good to see Kole Norris climb aboard the bus. In case you missed the game Kole was laid out by a Gerry Young hit (a hit we couldn't see because of the broadcast location in the River but opinion very divided on the legality of the hit) and was down on the ice for a very long time. Norris eventually came to and was stretchered off the ice and taken to the Hospital for precautionary reasons. There was about a 5 to 10 minute period there when it was a little scary so it was great to find out "Chuck" was OK. The Ref made the right call as well when he ran the last 45 seconds off the clock while Norris was lying on the ice. No need to finish playing that game at that point.

So the Huskies have two left with Whitecourt tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Meaningless in the standings but super important as both teams tuneup for the playoffs. Oh yeah, and the Huskies really need to prove they can beat Whitecourt. If you haven't already decided to go to these games stop thinking about it and just do it. They will be excellent. I will be filling in as colour man for Dave Dawson as he broadcasts the game for XM105 back in Whitecourt. You can listen online at xm105.com

Peace River now head to Dawson Creek tomorrow to take on the Junior Canucks. Dawson lost to Grand Prairie last night 3 - 2 which sets up tomorrows tilt perfectly. Whichever team wins tomorrow between Peace and Dawson will finish third and set themselves up for a tough first round series with Beaverlodge and a potential second round playoff series with FSJ. Should be a great game in DC as well.

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