By Alex Gallacher
The St. Michael’s Buzzers snapped the Haliburton County Huskies five game win streak Saturday, beating the Huskies 4-2 at the S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena.
After an exhilarating win against the division leading Trenton Golden Hawks on Friday, the Huskies headed back to Minden for another game less than 24 hours later. In the first meeting, the Buzzers won 3-2 at the St. Michael’s College Arena, however this time the Huskies looked for a win despite being down five players due to injuries.
During the opening puck drop it was clear things were going to be fast paced and aggressive. Both teams were throwing out big hits left and right, with multiple scoring chances as well. Oliver Tarr got the first big chance of the game with a breakaway 40 seconds in, the shot was denied by goaltender Cole Moore and the Huskies went back to the drawing board. After Christian Cicigoi made an amazing save on Ben Stewart, Bryce Stevenson would sent for a time out at 16:05.
The Buzzers’ powerplay got to work and Bryce Sutherland’s point shot was tipped off the stick of Luca Marcelltti to give St. Mike’s the early 1-0 lead. A few late chances from the Huskies were all kept out as the teams headed back to the locker rooms.
The Buzzers wasted no time doubling their lead, Jared Coccimiglio would see an opportunity and beat Cicigoi to make it two zip Buzzers. Tarr responded in the best possible way, with a highlight reel goal.
Taking the puck in an amazing individual effort, Tarr went nearly coast to coast and beat Moor on the backhand to the roar of another sold out Haliburton County crowd. The joy was short lived as less than a minute later Bryce Sutherland came streaking down the left side of the rink with a head of steam. Sutherland ripped a shot between the wickets of Cicigoi and the period ended with the Buzzers up 3-1.
After a three team trade earlier in the week saw the Huskies ship out Davis Bone and Jacob Dupuis to the Stouffville Spirit, the Huskies received Cameron Kosurko, Jonah Cochrane and Payton Schaly from the Wellington Dukes. All three players dressed for the game, with Kosurko netting his first as a Huskie burying a Bryce Richardson rebound to make it 3-2.
However the Buzzers proved to be too much for the Huskies as Sutherland netted an empty netter to seal the game for St. Mikes and send them back to Toronto with an important two points.
“We gave ourselves a lot of chances to win but sometimes it doesn’t fall that way,” said head coach Ryan Ramsay. “Effort was there, but the hockey gods weren’t on our side. We played well enough to win, effort level was there but we got to find more ways to win.”
For Kosurko, his first goal as a Huskie was something to behold. A packed house brought to their feet was something the Uxbridge, Ontario forward was still smiling about even after the tough loss.
“It feels good especially coming into a new team,” Kosurko said. “The building is electrifying, there are fans everywhere who really love the Huskies. I’m excited to be here and can’t wait for the next one.”
The Huskies are back in action Friday at the Lindsay Recreation Complex for round four of the Battle of Highway 35 against the Lindsay Muskies. The rivalry stands at 2-1 in favour of the Huskies, who won their last meeting at home 5-4 … as well as the last meeting these two teams played in Lindsay. The puck with drop at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 12. Following that, the Huskies will return to the S.G. Nesbitt memorial arena to take on the Trenton Golden Hawks in a rematch of this past Friday. Puck drop for that game will be at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 13.
