Huskies snap skid

It was a dominant first period by the Huskies, who brought a lot of energy into the offensive zone and had the Cougars on their heels. Gordie Ballhorn scored his fifth of the season when he blocked a pass at the Cougars’ blue line and went in all alone on Morris.

The Huskies outshot the Cougars 16-5 in the opening frame and their backcheck helped create many chances offensively for the home team. The Cougars didn’t spend much time with possession of the puck or in the offensive zone, with their chances coming off the rush.

“The transition game is huge in this league. It is really tight checking and there isn’t a lot of room out there,” said Dmytriw. “All the teams that are going to try and clog up the neutral zone, so it is big to try and do that on our own part but also get our transition game going to create offence.”

The offence continued to create chances throughout the second frame when Donovan Neuls scored just 3:32 when he drove to the net on the soft side, chipping the puck over Morris’ shoulder to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead.

Jaxan Kaluski added to the total midway through the period when he shovelled a loose puck under Morris, who was laying flat on the ice after a scramble at the goal line.

“I thought we had a good dominant effort here and one we would like to see more of,” said Mike Babcock, head coach of the Huskies. “When you are playing well and playing heavy, you end up with a lot of track transition and offensive opportunities.”

Midway through the third period, Cougars forward Lane Gilliss was given a five-minute major penalty for checking from behind and a 10-minute misconduct. He hit Huskies defenceman Evan Fiala into the boards, who was slow to get up and was taken to the locker room by the trainers. He didn’t return for the rest of the game.

Injuries have been a concern early for the Huskies. They were without Vince Loschiavo for a few games, and they just got Wyatt Johnson back into the lineup after he missed eight games.

Getting Johnson back was critical for Babcock’s lineup.

“Wyatt is a two-way player and a real good hockey sense and an unbelievable compete level. He can play against the best players and plays well defensively. He can play in all situations. That’s a huge plus to us,” said Babcock. “Wyatt’s line was solid with Folk and Holt – they did a good job facing them head-to-head against their top line and not giving them much space.”

Loschiavo scored on the power play, giving the Huskies a 5-0 lead. The Cougars would score short-handed to get their first on the night.

Owen Hardy scored his first of the season on a tip through traffic. And Kaluski got his second of the night late in the game on a power play marker.

Multiple players had multi-point nights. Dmytriw finished with one goal and two assists. Hardy had a goal and assist. Neuls has continued his point-per-game power with a goal and assist and Loschiavo finished the night with three points.

“They are a good team, and we are a good team,” said Babcock. “We were able to hold their key guys for most of the game. I thought it was a real positive.”

Roddy Ross won his fifth game of the season, making 15 saves. Before the game, he ranked third in Canada West goaltending statistics with a solid 2.10 goals against average. He will get the start again Saturday night in the rematch with the Cougars.

“I thought the key tonight was Roddy Ross, said Babcock. “He didn’t let in any weak goals and didn’t get up any rebounds. We need our goaltending to keep getting better and he was tonight.”

The Huskies will play their final game before the holiday break at Merlis Belsher Place where they will look for the sweep of the Cougars and continue to build space in the standings.

“We want to focus on a lot of the same things,” said Dmytriw. “We need to keep our game simple and we the way the league is structured this year, we want to end on a positive note and look to carry this momentum we created last night into tomorrow.”

by Katie Brickman-Young

Huskies snap skid

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