Huskies steal home ice advantage from Junior Canucks in game one

The Fort St. John Huskies jumped out to a 1-0 series lead last night in their best of five set with the Dawson Creek Junior Canucks. The Huskies opened the scoring on the power play in the first period and played a sound game overall for a 2-1 win.

In a controversial moment still in the first with about seven minutes left in the frame, the Huskies appeared to go up 2-0 however the goal was waived off. A Huskies player was told the goal did not count because he was in the crease at the time of the goal, however such an infraction by the rule book does not result in a disallowed goal unless there is goaltender interference which there was not on the play. To make matters worse the head official in charge refused to go over to the Huskies bench and explain the call to the coaches personally, which is the standard thing to do in that situation.

Despite the botched call less than a minute into the second the Huskies expanded their lead to 2-0 off the stick of Josh Robinson and that one was not waived off. Dawson Creek managed to find the back of the net with just under nine minutes left in the frame to cut the Huskies lead in half.

The third saw good chances at both ends of the ice, but neither team was able to score in what was a preview of what should be a great series between the two clubs.

After the game head coach Gary Alexander said the Huskies played a good game at both ends of the ice, but it was still a game that was up for grabs right until the end.

“I think it’s one of the first 60 minutes of hockey that we’ve played all winter. We had a full line-up tonight for the first time against Dawson so it came out the way we wanted to. It was a pretty hard fought game with chances at both ends. It could have gone both ways at times. With a little bit of luck and perseverance we came out on top.”

He added that while it is nice to take home ice advantage away in the series, it won’t matter a whole lot if the Huskies don’t win their games at home as well.

“It’s always big to take home ice advantage away but you have to go home and win too. You have to win in both arenas so it doesn’t matter which one it is, you need a road game,” Alexander stated.

There were moments when Dawson Creek was getting quality scoring chances in the slot but to the Huskies credit they made adjustments to their defensive game which forced the Junior Canucks to generate their offence from the outside as the game progressed.

“We just started playing down the middle a bit more and collapsing towards the net when they were in close,” Alexander explained. “It’s pretty hard to score in those scrums. They did manage to score once but I think that was more luck than good management at that time I think.”

Goaltender Travis McLean made 22 saves in the contest for the win.

Game two goes Friday night at the North Peace Arena at 8 p.m. The game is being dubbed “minor hockey night” as all minor players who wear their jerseys to the game will get in for free.