President's Update - January 11th, 2016

The HHL was back in action this past Wednesday evening as the Raymore Rockets were in Bethune to play the first place Bulldogs. Mike Reich scored on the power play late in the first and then got his second goal of the evening early in the second period. Paul Alber’s would score the third Bulldog goal and half way through the game it was 3-0 for the Bulldogs. Tyrell Shulko scored twice, Jordan Reeve would score and Travis Mohr would pick up a power play goal and in a span of eight minutes and fourteen seconds in the last half of the second period the Rockets had a 4-3 lead going into the third period. Mike Reich would score his third goal of the evening on the power play early in the third period to tie this game and then Derek Fuchs would score seven minutes into the third and that goal would prove to be the winner as the Bulldogs would win 5-4. Ryan Senft would play 36 minutes and Ryan Seibel would finish the game for the Bulldogs. Travis Bosch was in net for the Rockets. The Bulldogs had 26 minutes of penalties and the Rockets had 12. On Friday evening the Rockets hosted the Wynyard Monarchs. The Monarchs got power play goals from Riley Storzuk in the first period and Brett Plouffe in the second period. Tyrell Shulko scored once in the first period and again in the second period and the Rockets and Monarchs were tied 2-2 going into the third period. Chad Filteau would score the eventual winner for the Rockets in the third period. In the last two minutes of play Josh Jordan had an empty net goal and Todd MacMurchy scored on the power play and the final score was 5-2 for the Rockets. Travis Bosch picked up the win in net for the Rockets and David Perkin was in net for the Monarchs and this was his first loss of the year. Raymore had three minor penalties and Wynyard had two. Dale Spelchen had a major penalty for elbowing and a game misconduct and received a one game suspension. In Strasbourg the Maroons had their first win of the regular season with an 8-7 overtime win over the Lumsden Monarchs. Garret Lockeridge scored the winning goal 4 seconds into overtime. Tanner Exner led the way for the Maroons with a hat trick. Greg Ferguson scored twice including a shorthanded tally and Aaron Johnson and Tyson Orban also scored.  Liam Brennan scored a hat trick for the Monarchs; Brady Aulie scored a power play goal while Kyle Johnson, Carter Selinger and Mac Hubick also scored for the Monarchs. Jeremy Ellis picked up the win in net for the Maroons and Kurtis Sollosy was in net for the Monarchs. Strasbourg had 50 minutes of penalties and Lumsden had 37 minutes. Mitch McNish from the Maroons had two major penalties and was assessed a two game suspension and Warren Szucki from the Monarchs received a one game suspension for instigating. Both benches received game misconducts at completion of game which resulted in both coaches being suspended for one game. The other game played on Friday evening was in Cupar as the Canucks defeated the Avonlea Arrows 5-3. Dayton Picard scored shorthanded to get Avonlea on the board first and take a 1-0 lead into the second period. Godric Tham and Brett Boha scored on the power play and Cody Hall and Donovan Chow also scored as the Canucks scored four times in the second period. Kyle Oleniuk scored for the Arrows and it was 4-2 for the Canucks going into the third period. Oleniuk would score on the power play to get the Arrows to within a goal but a quick response on a goal from Vaughn Woolsey and the final score would be 5-4. Colby Miller picked up the win in net for the Canucks and Aaron Husband was in net for the Arrows. The Arrows had eight minor penalties and the Canucks had six and a misconduct.

On Saturday evening we had two games go to a shootout. In 39 games played year we have had seven games go to overtime and five games go to a shootout. In Avonlea, Josh Jelinski and Devin Cobbold scored for the Arrows to give them a 2-0 lead going into the second period.  Kyle Ross scored a power play goal early in the second period to get the Bulldogs within one. Sean Whelan would score on the power play and Layton Ludwar would score and the Arrows had a 4-1 lead 14 minutes into the second period. Kyle Ross and Mike Reich would then score for the Bulldogs and before the period was over Kyle Oleniuk scored and the Arrows had a 5-3 lead going into the third period. The Bulldogs would take the lead in third period on goals by Kyle Ulmer, Mike Reich and Shea Van Luven. With just over one minute left in the game Kyle Oleniuk would score his second goal of the evening on the power play and the Arrows and Bulldogs were tied at 6-6 going into overtime. This game went to a shootout and a goal by Kyle Ross would give the Bulldogs a 7-6 win. There were only six minor penalties in this game. Ryan Seibel picked up the win in net for the Bulldogs and Dean Brother was in net for the Arrows. In Lumsden the Lumsden Monarchs scored in the fourth round of the shoot out on a goal by Liam Brennan and defeated the Raymore Rockets 5-4. Austin Preete scored twice while Andrew Perrault and Ryan Herman scored power play goals for the Monarchs. The Rockets got goals from Brad Harding, Tyrell Shulko, Todd MacMurchy and Jordan Reeve. Will Hood played the first period in net for the Monarchs and stopped 9 shots.  Kurtis Sollosy played the balance of the game and picked up the win in net for the Monarchs stopping 31 shots. Travis Bosch was in net for the Rockets and stopped 48 shots fired his way including a third period penalty shot from Andrew Perrault. The box was busy as the Monarchs had ten minor penalties and the Rockets had eleven. In Wynyard the Monarchs defeated the Strasbourg Maroons 8-0. Donovan Hall led the way with three goals including a power play goal. Eric Popadynec, Brett Leffler, Matt Strueby on the power play, Riley Storzuk and Lyle Ostapowich also scored for the Monarchs. Mason Brewster picked up the shut out in net for the Monarchs and Tyler Kifferling was in net for the Maroons. Strasbourg had five minor penalties and Wynyard had three.

On Tuesday evening the fifth place Cupar Canucks (2-6-1) are in Strasbourg to play the Maroons (1-9-1). On Friday evening the second place Wynyard Monarchs (9-4-0) play the third place Rockets (8-2-1) in Raymore.  Also on Friday evening the fourth place Lumsden Monarchs (7-2-2) are in Cupar and the Avonlea Arrows (2-7-1) are in Strasbourg.  On Saturday evening the first place Bethune Bulldogs (10-0-2) host the Cupar Canucks. Also on Saturday evening Wynyard is in Strasbourg and Raymore is in Avonlea.

In Provincials we have five teams in Provincial ‘A’. All five teams have a series in January. Last year’s finalists, the Bethune Bulldogs play Watrous, Raymore plays Balgonie, Avonlea plays Balcarres, Lumsden plays Grenfell and Wynyard plays Hague.  Strasbourg is in Provincial ‘C’ and play Gull Lake but that series does not have to be completed until the end of February. The Cupar Canucks are in Provincial ‘D’ and play Redvers. That series will be played in early February. We will have our Provincial Page updated with all the series this week. We will update game times as we receive the information. Statistics will be updated this week.

You can follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/HighwayHockey  All of our tweets, which include updates from all games, appear on our front page just under the Upcoming Games column if you just want to follow on the website. You can also follow my account Pensky File http://twitter.com/GeraldT 

If you follow us on any portable device remember you have the option of the mobile view or the regular desktop view which you can change at the bottom of the page. Thank you for your continued support of senior hockey in Saskatchewan and the Highway Hockey League… Please get out to a game near you.

Gerry Tomkins

President – Highway Hockey League