Nov 19, 2012 | Kory Green | 1105 views
Unbeaten Streak Remains Intact
One of the busiest schedules of the regular season confronted the New Hamburg Minor Peewee ‘A’ Huskies this past weekend. A stretch of four games in five nights for the Re/Max Twin City team was set in motion on Friday Nov 16 in Brampton where the small ice surface was a definite factor in the contest as neither team was able to gain clear puck possession. Not until 10:53 of the third period when Brett Gruber grabbed a loose puck at the point and shot towards the Brampton Eagle net.
Somehow it found its target and the Huskies were on the board. “It was good, felt good,” said Gruber. “Second goal of the whole year, but we need to work harder… don’t rely on our goalie,” he concluded.
Mavrick Habel was that goalie who had his bid for his fifth shutout of the season spoiled with 2:59 left in the game as the puck just eluded him on a broken play to tie and end the game at one.
The road trip continued in Burlington the next day where a determined Huskie squad was focused for a rebound game. Jumping out to a three goal lead in the first period, the dogs manhandled their way to a 4-1 victory. CJ Egli was the first to tally when his shot was tipped in front by a Burlington player. Then at 5:33, Aedan Bell picked up a good clearing pass by Bradley Vitello and looked like Guy Lafleur, minus the flowing hair, streaking down the right wing on the power play for the two goal lead. Jacob Ertel made it 3-0, again on the power play, with less than a minute to go in the period, slamming in a rebound off a point shot by Kyle Goodhew. Earning his second goal of the game, Ertel extended the Huskie lead to 4-0 early in the second frame unassisted. Burlington scored their lone goal twenty-two seconds later to round out the scoring.
Due to player absences, Koby Seiling served double duty playing forward for two periods before taking his more common place at defense for the third. “It was fun. It was a new experience…tried my best to help,” he remarked. Seiling tried an interesting way to stay onside in the first period when he figured by jumping high above the blue line he would stay onside. The ref didn’t buy it. “I tried to straddle the line but it ended up being a good show,” he laughed. Assistant coach Jeff Livingstone thought it was a rebound game his team needed. “This team was gunnin’ for us. It was nice to get a goal early,” he said.
Sunday afternoon, the unbeaten streak climbed to ten games for the Minor Peewees when they hosted the same Brampton Eagle team they tied Friday night in a hard hitting affair. Multiple penalties as well as some injuries were the result as Huskie defenseman Ryan Vaudry can attest to. “I went around the net and got hit,” said Vaudry. “Got hit on the shoulder and my head hit the boards.” But as a true Huskie, although he was helped off the ice early in the third, by midway through the period Vaudry was back taking a regular shift. The same could not be said for two Eagle players as they were helped to the dressing room instead. “It’s fun to hit” mused Vaudry, as he’s stepped up his own physical play of late. “My coach told me to step up a little bit and I’m doing that.”
Both teams struggled to gain the offensive zone until 1:53 of the second when Gruber stick handled through three players on a superb individual effort tucking in the opening scoring play. Seiling was credited with the lone assist.
Early in the third, Ertel was in a familiar spot when he poked the puck through two defenders and was sent in alone by Seiling and Luke Egers to make the score 2-0 on a breakaway. Cotter Hegan scored to make it 3-0 assisted by Bell before the Eagles would rally with a goal of its own. Habel made a superb first save high but lost sight of the puck and Brampton was able to tap in the rebound. The Huskies added another marker late in the game, earning Habel his eighth win of the regular season, on an unassisted tally by Griffin Hergott.
Assistant coach Chip Seiling was pleased with the effort, especially of his team’s defensive core. “We were getting pucks deep, we were solid and we were physical,” he said. “(A little) confidence goes a long way.” He also noted the play of the forwards. “(The) more we got in front of them, we generated more offensive chances. Wingers were winning (a lot of) board battles.”