By Alex Gallacher

The Haliburton County Huskies went on an extended four-game Ontario Junior Hockey League road trip facing off against the North York Rangers, Caledon Admirals, Toronto Patriots and concluding against the Cobourg Cougars. 

The Huskies went 2-1-0-1 during the road trip, picking up a total of five out of eight potential points. In the first game played Sunday (Nov.14) at the Herbert Carnegie Centre, the Huskies jumped out to a 3-0 lead courtesy of goals from Nick Athanasaskos, and two from Oliver Tarr. One of which was an amazing Michigan style goal – when a player picks up the puck from the ice surface (like a lacrosse player) and carries it up to score, putting the puck in the top corner while standing behind the net in one motion.  

The Rangers, who have dropped both prior meetings with the Huskies wanted revenge. Netting two in the second period, the Rangers would tie the game up in the third off a goal from Luca Rea. 

At 3:15 in the OT period, Anthony Piccininno would score unassisted to give the Rangers the win and keep the Huskies at only one point gained. 

Three days later, the Huskies headed to Caledon to take on the Admirals for the first time in franchise history. The Huskies exploded for an amazing and diverse display of offense, Sam Solarino netted his sixth goal of the season with Jonah Cochrane netting his first career OJHL goal. 

In the second, Huskies forward Ethan Gonsalves netted his first career OJHL goal with Athanasaskos netting a goal in back-to-back games. Ending the period at 4-0, the Huskies had one more period to go and they weren’t done scoring yet. 

Lucas Stevenson added his sixth goal of the season on the power play, while the Admirals’ Jack Guerra failed to convert on a penalty shot. The final goal of the contest was tallied by Sam Solarino for his second of the game and seventh of the season, his short-handed goal was assisted by Haliburton’s own, Ryan Hall. 

The final game of the week was held on Saturday (Nov. 20) at the Westwood Arena in Etobicoke against the Patriots. Toronto would jump to an early 1-0 lead thanks to a goal from Jacob Guest. The Huskies answered with two of their own. Athanasaskos tallied a goal in his third game in a row, while Bryce Richardson scored on the power play. Stevenson added another on the power play for the only goal of the second. 

The final goal of the contest came off the stick of Toronto’s Nolan Lowe, but the Huskies held on for a 3-2 victory.

In the team’s visit to Cobourg, the Cougars needed a win to elevate them off of the bottom of the standings. The Huskies opened the game with Athanasaskos scoring a goal in his fourth game in a row. However, the Cougars would score six consecutive goals, with two from Kallaway Mercer and goals from Jakob Morier, Issac Pascoal, Andy Reist and Tucker Firth. The Cougars would dominate for a 6-1 victory.  

The next Huskies home game will be Friday, Nov. 26 in a rematch with the Cougars, who were blown out 5-0 in their last visit to the S.G. Nesbitt memorial arena.