President's Update - December 9th, 2013

On Friday evening the Raymore Rockets and Lumsden Monarchs met for the first time of the year in in Lumsden. The game featured 41 shots in the first period and a Rockets lead of 2-1 going into the second period. Rockets scoring came from Todd MacMurchy on the power play and a goal from Captain Josh Jordan. Lumsden actually scored first on a goal from Brady Aulie. The Monarchs outshot the Rockets in the second period and got three goals from David Clive, Stuart Poulin and Miguel Pereira. Cody Mapes scored for the Rockets in the second period. Early in the third period, Denby Haysom stole the puck in the Rockets zone and scored what would be the winner for the Monarchs. Cody Mapes would score his second goal of the night to get the Rockets to within one goal but the Rockets would fall short 5-4. Trevor Thiessen would pick up the win in net for the Monarchs stopping 26 of 30 shots fired his way. John Arscott was in net for the Rockets and had a very busy night stopping 46 of 51 shots he faced.  The Monarchs had seven minor penalties, misconduct and a game misconduct. That game misconduct would equate into a suspension for Lance Morrison from Lumsden as it was taken in the last ten minutes of the game. The Rockets had six minor penalties, misconduct and a game misconduct.

In Strasbourg, the Maroons came from behind to beat the Cupar Canucks 7-5. The Canucks took a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals from Kyle Ross, Shea Van Luven and Cody Hanson. Trent Hilderman would score late in the first period for the Maroons and the Canucks had a 3-1 advantage going into the second period. Branden Sentes got the Maroons to within one goal before Kyle Ross would answer back on the power play to restore the Canucks two goal lead.  Greg Ferguson would then score for the Maroons and it was 4-3 for the Canucks going into the third period. Early in the third period Donovan Chow would score to once again restore the two goal lead for the Canucks. Midway through the third period Derek Edwards, Brady Heintz and Mitch McNish would score in a matter of just under three minutes and the Maroons had their first lead of the game. Brady Heintz would get his second goal of the evening into an empty net and the Maroons would pull off the comeback 7-5. Tyler Kifferling would pick up the win in net for the Maroons and Colby Miller was in net for the Canucks. Strasbourg had five minor penalties and Cupar had four plus a misconduct.

In Wynyard there were 182 minutes of penalties in the Monarchs/Bulldogs game (91 minutes for each team). As a result there were five power play goals and a shorthanded goal and the Wynyard Monarchs won the game 6-3. Cody Straker received an Instigator call in this game and received a one game suspension.  Eric Popadynec and Andrew Bzdel scored on the power play, Dale Spelchen scored shorthanded and Brett Leffler, Bryan Kauk and Donovan Hall scored even strength to complete the Monarchs scoring. Joel Kot, Derek Fuchs and Brent Becker scored power play goals for the Bulldogs.  Dave Perkin picked up the win in net for the Monarchs and Troy Moltz took the loss for the Bulldogs. Ryan Seibel played in relief of Moltz in this game.

On Saturday evening the Cupar Canucks and Bethune Bulldogs both bounced back from Friday evening losses as the Canucks defeated the Raymore Rockets 7-2 in Raymore and the Bethune Bulldogs defeated the Lumsden Monarchs 7-3 at home. In Raymore, Jordan Pratt got the Canucks on the board with a power play goal thirteen minutes in and shortly after Kyle Ermel scored to give Cupar a 2-0 lead. The Rockets would respond with a goal from Andrew Baron and a late power play goal from Cody Mapes to go into the second period tied. In the second period Devin Stecyk, Shea Van Luven and Kyle Ross would score and the Canucks had a 5-2 lead going into the third period. In the third period Cody Hanson and Shea Van Luven would both score on the power play to make the final score 7-2. Colby Miller picked the win up in net for the Canucks and John Arscott was in net for the Rockets. The Rockets took seven minor penalties and the Canucks took ten minor penalties.

In Bethune, three first period goals from Mitch Neilson, Brady Aulie (PPG) and Chris Whitteron gave the visiting Monarchs a 3-2 lead heading into the second period after Lucas Ulmer gave the Bulldogs the early lead. Mitch Boucher scored late in the period for the Bulldogs. Lucas Ulmer and Dustin MacAngus scored in the second period to give the Bulldogs the lead which they would not relinquish. Mike Reich, Mitch Boucher and Dustin MacAngus shorthanded finished the scoring for the Bulldogs in the third period to make the final 7-3. Ryan Seibel picked up the win in net for the Bulldogs with 21 saves. Will Hood would stop 42 of 49 shots in net for the Monarchs. The Bulldogs had three minor penalties and the Monarchs had two.

Kyle Ross from the Canucks now leads the race for the Tyson Sievert Trophy with 7 goals and 13 assists and 20 points.  Last year’s winner Brett Leffler from Wynyard is next with 17 points. Pat Thompson-Gale from the Marlins is third with 16 points and Bryan Kauk from Wynyard has 15 points. Ryan Siebel leads all goalies in GAA. Jamie Wutke from Cupar and Troy Moltz from Bethune are tied for second.  Dave Perkin from Wynyard leads the league in most wins (5) and total minutes played (397). Brett Leffler and Chad Mazurak from the Wynyard Monarchs lead all scorers with four power play goals each.  Pat Thompson-Gale from Southey leads all scorers with three shorthanded goals.  Top power play in the League belongs to the Southey Marlins at 42.3%. They are followed by Wynyard at 30.6% and then Strasbourg at 28.6%. The lowest power play percentage belongs to the Raymore Rockets at 13.9%. The top penalty kill in the league belongs to the Cupar Canucks at 86.8%. They are followed by Bethune at 81.4% and then the Strasbourg Maroons at 77.8%. Southey owns the lowest penalty killing percentage at 62.5%. The Bethune Bulldogs are the most penalized team in the league averaging 35.7 minutes per game. The Lumsden Monarchs have been penalized the least averaging 11.3 minutes per game. Please check statistics out under the Statistics tab or under the individual teams tab.

On Tuesday evening the Avonlea Arrows (2-1-0) are in Southey to meet the Marlins (0-6-0). On Friday evening we have all of our teams playing. The Lumsden Monarchs (5-3-0) are in Avonlea to play the Arrows…the Raymore Rockets (2-6-0) are in Wynyard to play the Monarchs (5-3-0)…the Bethune Bulldogs (4-1-1) are in Strasbourg to play the Maroons (3-1-1) and the Cupar Canucks (5-2-0) are in Southey. On Saturday evening Avonlea will be in Cupar and we also have a makeup game in Bethune where the Southey Marlins will be in town. On Sunday at 5 p.m. the Lumsden Monarchs are in Raymore.

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Thank you for supporting the Highway Hockey League. Please try and get out to a game near you.

Gerry Tomkins

President - HHL