Well where do I start? With the loss in Peace River, the win over Grande Prairie or the frustration of technical difficulties? Let’s start with the win.
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Yesterday afternoon at the NPA the Pups exacted a little revenge on the Wheelers. GPÂ is the team that knocked FSJÂ out of the playoffs last year and while nothing will erase that blemish on the Huskies record at least they were able to take the game to Grande Prairie in their first meeting this season. Robbie Sidhu was excellent for the Huskies recording 4 points and dazzling the NPA crowd on one play in particular. Robbie tied the Wheelers DÂ man in knots as he dangled around the same guy twice. Cody Hildebrand officially put the puck over the line but Sidhu had done most of the work. It was a beauty.
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All in all it was a better effort for the Huskies and if they find a way to get everyone in the lineup healthy and playing well, and executing the game plan, they will be a tough team to beat. Of course there is still a lot of work left for FSJÂ to get to the level they want to reach. They did take a step in the right direction on Saturday in Peace River. 30-40 minutes of pretty strong road hockey was undermined by a bit of a third period colapse. The Huskies were short staffed in key areas and were missing names like Walters, Green, McInerney, Dyal Apsassin, Norris, Landgon, Campbell and more. The line of Connor Rose, Chris Sperling and Dan Cletheroe had a strong effort and if it wasn’t for a couple of lapses in concentration in their own zone the Huskies might have gotten a better result in Peace River. I do think it was a step in the right direction however.
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It was also encouraging to see Linden Apsassin back in the lineup. He was pretty good over the two games and considering he was playing for the first time this year coming off an injury I thought he played well. I expect a bit of a bounce back year for Linden and he will be important to the Huskies strength on the back end this season. I also thought Jordan Walters was very good against Grande Prairie so perhaps things are looking up for the Huskies defense.
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And so finally to the technical difficulties during our broadcast on Saturday. I don’t know what to say. IÂ guess IÂ will start with a simple apology. IÂ am sorry. I am still not sure how Matthew’s blackberry was able to get full bars and our cell phone kit that we use to broadcast the games (which has a giant antenna)Â couldn’t seem to get any bars of service. IÂ have a horrible feeling that it was something simple that I just missed when IÂ checked to make sure everything was connected properly. Rest assured IÂ will do my best to make sure it never happens again. Thankfully Matthew’s phone was working and had enough battery power left to get us through the game. Our next broadcast will be October 29th from Sexsmith. That one will be live on the Moose at 7pm local time here in FSJ and of course will stream at energeticcity-beta.mystagingwebsite.com
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Oh and I should close with one last thing. Apparently I almost got kicked out of the game on Sunday. I was up in the press box when Payden Wongstedt was intentionally hit in the face with a stick after a GP goal. The Ref either didn’t see it or decided it wasn’t a penalty and subsequently threw Wongstedt in the box for 10 minutes for his complaints. I don’t cheer or normally get involved with the officials in any way. But this time IÂ made a couple of, what IÂ thought were funny, cracks about how the whole incident was going in the Huskies blog. The Ref either had thin skin or confused me with someone else in the press box and was close to throwing me out. In future I will keep my trap shut. Of course the next time someone intentionally hits another player, no matter what teams are involved, in the head with his stick I hope the Refs decide it is worth at least 2 minutes.
