submitted by team reporter Albert Ross
The Re/Max Twin City Peewee AE Huskies hit the ice running on Sunday February 26 as they hosted the Dorchester Dragons for game 1 of the OMHA semi-finals. The Dogs were well prepared for this tough opponent and proved the point early by taking the play into the offensive zone, keeping the Dragons on their heels. The unrelenting early pressure paid off with three goals for the Pack before the buzzer ended the first frame.
Jackson Normandeau drew first blood with his backhand on a feed from Tim Geiger. A minute later it was Evan Denison making the most of a shift change, catching the opposing defense flat-footed. He raced in all alone planting a shot over the goalie’s shoulder to double the Husky total. He’d do it again on a beautiful breakout pass from Dale Jurica to make it a 3-goal game. It was a stunning 1st period for the Huskies but the Dragons were quick to recover in the second. The Dogs soon found themselves going into full defensive mode as the opposition turned the tables. Net-minder Tyler Kumpf , who wasn’t tested much in the first frame, felt the full weight of the Dragon blitz in the second. To his credit, only one got by him early in the frame, before the Husky defense solidified. Jackson Gerber and Joel Domm were making life rough for the Dragon attackers while Ethan Field was winning those important battles along the boards. Blue-liners Owen Ross and Bailey Zehr were equally formidable refusing to give ground to Dorchester. The third frame began badly for the Pack when they incurred a hooking call, which the visitors capitalized on. The Huskies bounced back and turned the tables on an amazing tic-tac-toe play. Kolton Wagler broke the puck out of the Husky zone, hitting Denison on the fly. Denison raced up ice with line-mate Trent Smith. His feed was good and Smith delivered the package with authority to re-establish the 2-goal lead. The Dragons were desperate and returned to the attack. Kumpf stood on his head in net and came up with three big saves before the battle was taken back into Dragon territory. Nathan Gerber would have been next on the Husky score-sheet but the goal was waved off due to a man-in-the-crease ruling. The sea-saw battles continued and as time grew short, the Dragon coach pulled his goalie to get an extra attacker. The ensuing mad scramble saw Kumpf performing heroics in net and in the final seconds, the Huskies broke it out. Denison came within a second of landing an empty-netter, narrowly missing the hat trick but it wasn’t needed. The Huskies had secured a convincing, all-hands-on-deck 4 – 2 win on home ice against a tough and determined opponent to set the tone for the series. Expect to see more of this fast and furious action when the Huskies travel to Dorchester on Tuesday February 28 for game 2 of the series.