Jan 16, 2012 | jgerber | 833 views
Huskies Sweep OMHA Round #1 Jan. 9 - 12
by team reporter Albert Ross
If the Re/Max Twin City Peewee AE Huskies were suffering from tournament hangover, it wasn’t apparent to their opposition. Having just finished International Silver Stick, the Dogs immediately faced the Tornadoes in Tillsonburg on January 9 in game 1 of their first OMHA play-down series.
It was a lack-luster game in which both sides failed to bring their best. Emmet Latyn got the lone goal of the game while Jackson Holmes secured the 1 – 0 shutout. Coach Jeff Gerber counseled his team to dig deeper in the next game at home on Tuesday as he knew the opposition would stiffen. Judging from the results, the message was heard. With less than 3 minutes gone, the Huskies had their first goal on a tip-in play. Latyn fed the puck to Ethan Field who made no mistake. The game tempo picked up and ushered in some rough play that saw both sides parading to the penalty box for the remainder of the contest. The Huskies registered their second goal with Latyn once again being the cannon loader. His feed to Dawson Hussey and the subsequent shot from the slot doubled the Dogs tally. The Tornadoes did not register a shot on Tyler Kumpf until the first frame was nearly done and it was expertly handled to keep the opposition scoreless. The second period had hardly begun when Nathan Gerber found the mark on a pass from Jack Normandeau on a power-play. Play had hardly resumed when Hussey secured his second goal on the night getting help from Jackson Gerber. Taking a too-many-men penalty, the Tornadoes succumbed to yet another power-play drive from Nathan Gerber, this time with Alex Smirnow getting the assist. Smirnow added his own goal to close the frame with Normandeau and Owen Ross getting the helpers. The third frame was all Husky as the Tornadoes felt the sting of another New Hamburg power-play. Nathan Gerber secured a hat-trick on the night with Dale Jurica riding shotgun. It was a dominating 7 – 0 shutout win that saw the Dogs take a commanding position in the series. The Huskies were once again in Tillsonburg on Thursday hoping to wrap it all up. It started well for the Pack when Owen Ross made the most of a turn-over, walked in and roofed it to open the scoring. Nathan Gerber added the second Husky point on a text-book pass from the boards by Evan Denison. If the Huskies looked good in the first, the Tornadoes reversed that trend in the second. Facing elimination, they fought back and peppered Holmes who was working very hard in net to keep his team in control. As bad luck would have it, one got by him in a melee late in the frame before the Dogs rediscovered their mojo and turned the tables. Jackson Gerber opened the scoring early in the third on a bullet from the point that the Tornado net-minder miss-handled. Field added another thru the 5-hole minutes later on a feed from Latyn to widen the lead. The final goal came from Trent Smith who’s shot from the slot hit the target. Denison got his second assist on the night in the play. It was an all-hands-on-deck 5 – 1 win that was made possible by sterling breakout and defensive work by Bailey Zehr, Ross, Tim Geiger, Joel Domm, Jurica, and Jackson Gerber. The front end was working equally well with those important battles along the boards being won by the likes of Kolton Wagler, Hussey and most of all Nathan Gerber. With this winning combination, the Huskies will now advance to round two of the OMHA play-downs and face the Caledonia Thunder in what promises to be an exciting series.