By Alex Gallacher

Those spending Family Day with the Huskies witnessed one of the most chaotic games of the season. Following Kolby Poulin’s first OJHL goal, the Huskies pan seared the visiting Muskies to snap a four game losing streak. 

With 214 passionate fans cheering the team on, the Huskies got to work quickly. After Gunnar Van Damme took a tripping call, Patrick Saini made no mistake to bury his own rebound and put the Huskies up by one. Exactly one minute later, Saini was back at it again. Beating the Huskies goalie for his second of the period, the Huskies’ Peyton Schaly added one more at 7:55 in the first.

Schaly’s goal was the straw that broke the camel’s back, as Lindsay’s head coach pulled goalie Yacine Chemrouk and Ethan Fraser took his place. 

Emotions ran high in the first resulting in five combined penalties, including one misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct. The second was the beginning of absolute chaos. 

Isaac Sooklal took another misconduct penalty at the beginning of the second, this time for head contact of one of the Muskies players. After the penalty expired, Boyd Stahlbaum was sprung by Cameron Jackson and made no mistake to put the Muskies on the board. 

Ten seconds later, the gloves came off. 

West Guilford’s own Joe Boice had enough of Lindsay’s Isiah Parris and the two dropped the gloves, a very rare occurrence in the league. Boice got some good clean shots in but in the end Parris got the takedown. The two were immediately ejected. 

Twenty seconds after that, Van Damme would be tossed after taking a shot at the head of Nick Athanasaskos. Fortunately, Athanasaskos was looked at by the Huskies medical staff and cleared to return to the game. 

The Muskies added one more before the period was up, as on a fast break Killian Rowlee fed Duncan Scullion who beat Cicigoi to pull the fish within one. 

Halfway through the third, the Muskies tied it up. In an almost identical situation from the first goal, the Muskies sprang Nate Burelle out of the box and sent him in on a breakaway. The game was now tied, and wasn’t going to get any cleaner. 

The teams fought hard, taking many missed calls and cheap shots at each other. In the end, the Huskies found a way to win. Patrick Saini set up Kolby Poulin in front of the net, who made no mistake potting his very first OJHL goal. 

As the clock wound down, Cameron Kosurko added the empty net to seal the deal for the Huskies. Not before Lindsay’s Burelle was ejected for abuse of an official. 

Poulin’s first career goal couldn’t have been more important, as it was the game winner. The Bowmanville native was beaming with joy after the game. 

“It’s honestly about time one was finally going to go in,” Poulin said. “We’ve been on the wrong end of a few games lately, so it’s nice to get that win on Family Day. Coming off of a big stretch there of five and seven, it was a good way to end that and we are going full force into the playoffs.”

For Patrick Saini, his frustrations were high following the loss against Wellington. However, he buckled down and made a huge impact for the team. Saini shared his thoughts following a great offensive night. 

“It was huge,” he said. “I think myself, Poulin and Richardson have been all over the net these past few games and we haven’t been able to put them in, so it’s nice to finally get some goals. The win means a lot as it’s never fun to lose, so the atmosphere in the room is so much better.”

The Huskies are back home Feb. 25 against the Toronto Patriots, before concluding the week on Saturday against the Golden Hawks, also at home.