President's Update - November 19th, 2017

The Streak is over.....The Bethune Bulldogs went 51 games....League, Provincials, Exhibition without losing a game.....their last loss was against Watrous in the first round of Provincials on January 29th, 2016 losing 3-2 in a game they actually led with less than three minutes to go. Their last league loss was to the Raymore Rockets on January 20th, 2016 by a score of 9-1. Last Wednesday evening the Raymore Rockets defeated the Bulldogs 4-2 to end the streak. There was no scoring in the first period, but early in the second period Matthew Kinnunen and Emery Anderson would put the Rockets ahead 2-0 and then Kinnunen would get his second goal of the game and the Rockets had a commanding 3-0 lead. Drew George would score and then later in the period Carter Smith would get a power play goal and it was 3-2 going into the third period. Michael Jordan would score the lone goal of the third period and the streak was over with the last team to beat the Bulldogs in regular season play winning 4-2. Dean Brothen had a huge game in net for the Rockets winning his first game as a Rocket and stopping 46 of 48 shots. His play in the first period really set up the second period for the Rockets. Ryan Holfeld also played very well stopping 36 of 40 Raymore shots. Raymore had three minor penalties and Bethune had one penalty and a misconduct.

Southey Marlins get first win....On Friday evening in Southey the Marlins scored four times in the third period and defeated the Cupar Canucks 4-2. Brayden Frank scored on the power play in the first period and that 1-0 Cupar lead held until early in third period when Drew Wilde scored on the power play to get the Marlins even. Godric Tham would score on the power play to give the Canucks a 2-1 lead. Travis Mohr would reply quickly for Southey and then Riley Probst and Ryley Storzuk would score to make the final 4-2 for the Marlins. Landen Moldenhauer would pick up the win in net for the Marlins and Tanner Kehler was in net for the Canucks. Lots of penalties in this one with the Marlins taking eleven minor penalties and a misconduct and the Canucks taking eight minor penalties. Down the highway in Raymore it was not a good night for the goalies as the Lumsden Monarchs defeated the Raymore Rockets 9-7 with all 16 goals coming even strength. Tyler Penny led the way for the Monarchs with four goals and one assist. Also scoring for the Monarchs were Braeden Adamyk, Liam Brennan, Kyle Johnson, Brady Aulie and Torey Lindsey. Tyler Bell with a natural hat trick and an assist led the way for the Rockets. Drew Kocur had two goals and an assist. Michael Jordan and Tyrell Shulko also scored for the Rockets. Will Hood picked up the win in net for the Monarchs and Riley Focht-Gabriel was in net for the Rockets. Lumsden had three minor penalties and Raymore had two. In Strasbourg, the Bethune Bulldogs started a new streak with a convincing 8-2 victory over the Maroons.  Matt Delahey, Carson Sinclair and Lucas Ulmer all scored on the power play for the Bulldogs. Colytn Sanderson scored a short handed goal. Joel Kot, Drew George and Derek Fuchs with two goals also scored for the Bulldogs.  Tyson Orban and Sean Delwo scored for the Maroons. Ryan Holfeld picked up the win in net for the Bulldogs stopping 28 of 30 shots fired at him. Tyler Kifferling took the loss in the Maroon's net. Dallin Sorenson finished the game in net for Strasbourg allowing one goal in the third period. Bethune had three minor penalties and Strasbourg had four.

Cupar Canucks pick up first win of season...The Cupar Canucks defeated the Raymore Rockets 11-5 on Saturday evening to go to 1-2-1 on the season. The Canucks led 3-1 after one period and 7-2 after two periods. Cody Hall led the way with three goals and two assists for the Canucks. Also scoring for the Canucks were Donovan Chow, Tyler Wilyman, Kyle Hall, Landon Fahlman, Cody Slawson, Josh Kluck and Brayden Frank with two goals. Dayton Picard scored twice for the Rockets including a short handed goal. Tyrell Shulko, Tyler Bell and Josh Jordan also scored for the Rockets. Colby Miller picked up the win in net for the Canucks. Dean Brothen was in net for the first two periods for the Rockets and Riley Focht-Gabriel was in net for the third period. The Canucks had eight minor penalties and the Rockets had five along with a misconduct. Also on Saturday evening the Bethune Bulldogs picked up their second win of the weekend with a 7-1 victory over the Lumsden Monarchs in Bethune. The Bulldogs led 2-0 after one period and 6-0 after two periods. Coltyn Sanderson led the way with two goals, including a power play goal, and two assists for the Bulldogs. Derek Fuchs, Carson Sinclair, Matt Delahey, Jacob Ulmer and Carter Smith also scored for the Bulldogs. Torey Lindsey scored the lone goal for the Monarchs. Ryan Holfeld picked up the win in net for the Bulldogs and Kurt Sollosy was in net for the Monarchs. Lumsden had eight minor penalties and the Bulldogs had seven minor penalties and a misconduct.

Early season statistics show Torey Lindsey and Tyler Penny from Lumsden leading the scoring race with nine points. There are four players with eight points....Cody Hall from Cupar, Joel Kot from Bethune and Kyle Johnson and Brady Aulie from the Monarchs. Will Hood from the Monarchs leads all goalies with three wins. Hood and Ryan Holfeld from Bethune have each played 180 minutes. Landen Moldenhauer with his win on Friday evening leads goalies with a 2.14 GAA. In team stats the Bethune Bulldogs are a perfect 100% on the penalty kill. Raymore is next at 87.5% and then Lumsden is at 86.7%. The Bulldogs power play is at 41.7%, the Strasbourg Maroons are at 30% and they are followed by the Cupar Canucks at 16.7%.  

This weekend there is one game on Friday evening. The Strasbourg Maroons (1-1-0) visit the Raymore Rockets at 8:00 p.m. On Saturday evening the Southey Marlins (1-1-0) are in Lumsden to play the Monarchs (3-1-0) at 8:30 p.m. Also on Saturday, the Raymore Rockets (1-2-0) are in Cupar to play the Canucks (1-2-1) at 8:00 p.m.

Thanks for coming out to our games this week, we appreciate it. To keep up to date please follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/HighwayHockey all of our tweets, which include updates from all games, appear on the front page just under the Upcoming Games column if you just want to follow us on the website during games. You can also follow my account the Pensky File http://twitter.com/GeraldT 

Thank you for supporting the Highway Hockey League and we hope you can get out to a game near you!

Gerry Tomkins - President HHL