President's Update - February 17th, 2014

Playoffs have begun….

Update.......

Game one scores:

Wynyard 7 Raymore 3

Cupar 10 Lumsden 1

Bethune 6 Strasbourg 4

Avonlea 8 Southey 4

The Highway Hockey League regular season finished this past Tuesday as the Avonlea Arrows defeated the Bethune Bulldogs in Avonlea and the hometown Cupar Canucks defeated the Lumsden Monarchs 8-3. In Avonlea Mark Ardelan scored for Avonlea and Avery Riche scored for Bethune in the first period. In the second period, Dustin MacAngus scored to put the Bulldogs up by one but just 11 seconds after that goal Calder Neufeld tied the game up. Two minutes later Jared Molnar scored the game winning goal and the final was 3-2. Nathan Fischl picked up his twelfth win of the year in net for the Arrows and Ryan Seibel was in net for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs had nine minor penalties and the Arrows had two. In Cupar Kyle Ermel had four goals and two assists to lead the way for the Canucks. Jaret Eberle had a goal and four assists. Also scoring for the Canucks were Brayden Frank, Ron Cote and Tyler Stewart with the game winning goal. Jamie Wutke picked up his seventh win of the year. Both he and teammate Colby Miller had seven wins this year. Trevor Thiessen was in net for the Monarchs. Both teams took seven minor penalties.

Let the playoffs begin….first round best of three series have started. The first place Avonlea Arrows (16-3-1) will host the eighth place Southey Marlins (1-17-2) on Tuesday evening. Avonlea defeated the Marlins 5-0 and 9-3 during the regular season. Game two of this series will be in Southey on Saturday evening. Also on Tuesday evening the fourth place Bethune Bulldogs (12-7-1) will host the fifth place Strasbourg Maroons (10-9-1). Game two of this series will be in Strasbourg next Monday. The Maroons defeated the Bulldogs in their first meeting of the year and the Bulldogs won the next three games involving these two teams.

On Monday evening the third place Cupar Canucks (14-5-1) hosted the sixth place Lumsden Monarchs (8-12-0). This is the third year in a row these two teams have met in the first round of the playoffs. The Canucks defeated the Monarchs 10-1 in game one on Monday evening. There were only two penalties in this game and all goals were even strength. Justin Schulhauser, Kyle Ermel, Kyle Ross and Shea Van Luven each scored two goals for the defending champions. Jordan Pratt and Jaret Eberle also scored for the Canucks. Jesse Matlock scored the Monarch’s lone goal in the second period. Jamie Wutke picked up the win in net for the Canucks and Will Hood took the loss for the Monarchs. Hood played the first 32 minutes of game and then Trevor Thiessen was in net. Game two of this series is on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. in Lumsden.

Also on Monday evening the second place Wynyard Monarchs (15-5-0) hosted the seventh place Raymore Rockets (4-15-1) in game one of their series and won 7-3. Matt Strueby led the way for the Monarchs as he scored three times and added an assist. Strueby had one power play goal and scored the game winning goal. Justin Zadoroozniak, Dillon Shewchuk, Brett Leffler and Dillon Stubbs also scored for the Monarchs. Bryan Kauk had five assists in this game. Tyrell Shulko had a shorthanded goal and two assists for the Rockets. Josh Jordan scored on the power play and Ryan Donauer also scored for the Rockets. Dave Perkin picked up the win in net for the Monarchs and John Arscott was in net for the Rockets. Each team took six minor penalties. Game two of this series will be Friday evening in Raymore.

In Provincial play we still have three teams alive from the six that started. The Cupar Canucks lost two straight to the Balgonie Bisons last week. The Canucks are the defending Provincial ‘A’ Champions and have represented our league well and we congratulate them again for their excellent play this past year. The team the Canucks defeated for the Provincial crown, the Wynyard Monarchs, lost to Drake 3-1 on Saturday evening and then defeated Drake 9-3 on Sunday to win their second round Provincial ‘A’ series. The Monarchs now play Balgonie with that series starting next Sunday afternoon in Wynyard. There are a number of HHL players on the Balgonie Provincial team. The Strasbourg Maroons lost to Bruno on Monday afternoon 4-1 and lost their Provincial ‘A’ series 2-1. The Avonlea Arrows defeated Kelliher twice this past weekend in Provincial ‘D’ play, 3-1 in Kelliher and 6-3 in Avonlea, and won their two game total point series 9-4. For the second straight year the Arrows will play the Bethune Bulldogs in their next series. The Bulldogs defeated the Craik Warriors on Saturday evening 5-1 and the series 13-3. Last year the Arrows defeated the Bulldogs in a best of three semi-final and went on to lose to Drake in the Provincial final. This year these two teams will be playing a two game total point series going into a semi-final.

The League will announce of who has been nominated for awards this coming week. Still the best time of the year to get out to a game….please follow us on twitter and watch for all results on our website. Please get out to a game near you and thank you for supporting senior hockey at its best!

Gerry Tomkins

HHL President

Follow the HHL/Provincials on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/highwayhockeyor on the Pensky File http://twitter.com/GeraldT or search for hashtag #HHL