U18 Huskies win home tournament
Pincher Creek’s U18 Huskies skated away as champions of their home hockey tournament this past weekend at MCC Arena.
The local team’s first game was against the Cochrane Rockies on Friday. Pincher Creek laid a barrage of shots on Cochrane as the Rockies often struggled to find a way out of their own zone.
Cochrane managed to stay competitive in the game despite the strong pressure from the Huskies, but would drop this one by a score of 3-1.
Pincher Creek’s next matchup came the following day against the Red Deer Red Arrow where they put on a dominant showcase, both on the offensive and defensive side of the puck.
Quinn Douglas opened the scoring for Pincher Creek midway through the first period. From there, the Huskies continued to hammer home the offence in a contest that saw the two clubs penalized a combined 15 times.
They’d go on to post an additional eight unanswered goals in the commanding performance and take this one by a score of 9-0.
Huskies assistant captain Brayden Anctil netted a hat trick while young Emery Willms posted two goals as part of Pincher Creek’s impressive offensive display.
Goaltender Axel Safranka posted a shutout in the rout.
Having finished first in group A after two games, Pincher Creek’s third game of the tournament was against the Creston Bruins, who placed second in group B. The winner would advance to the finals.
The score remained even at 0-0 after the first period, but the Huskies opened the scoring just a few seconds into the second period.
Despite registering nine minor penalties, the club went on to win the game by a score of 4-0.
Damian Beswick led the charge offensively with two goals while Axel Safranka posted his second consecutive shutout of the tournament.
With the win, the Huskies booked their ticket to the finals, where they would once again go up against the Cochrane Rockies.
The final game of the tournament saw both teams come out swinging. It was evident that offence was on the mind of these young players in a back-and-forth tilt that saw the clubs net a combined 14 goals.
Seven different Huskies scored at least a goal, including multi-goal performances from Maddix Dyck and Travis Bastien.
There was certainly no love lost between the clubs, as the pair of teams registered a combined 27 penalties against.
The Huskies wound up taking the wild contest 9-5, outscoring their opponents 25-6 across four matchups en route to a tournament victory.
Congratulations to the U18 Pincher Creek Huskies on the impressive performances and dominant tournament victory.
The team will be back in action this Friday at Vulcan Arena, where they will go toe to toe against the Vulcan Hawks.
