Fort St. John Huskies lose two games to La Crete Lumber Barons

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Carter Fehr (blue) had two goals for the La Crete Lumber Barons as they downed the Fort St. John Huskies on Sunday, October 5th. (Neufie digital/Facebook)

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – After a run of five championships in six seasons, the Fort St. John Huskies have found themselves in unfamiliar territory early in the 2025-26 season: second place.

The Pups dropped both games of a two-game series to the La Crete Lumber Barons over the weekend, both by scores of 5-4.

In doing so, they have dropped two points behind the North Peace Navigators in the Strike Group North West Junior Hockey League (NWJHL) East/West division just a handful of games into the year.

Head coach Todd Alexander was impressed with his team’s grit and hustle, ahead of the Huskies’ home opener versus North Peace on Wednesday, October 8th, reminding Energeticcity.ca “championships aren’t won in September.”

“We have been talking about strategy change – a lot of systematic stuff this year,” said Alexander. “Even though we have some veterans, they are still going through the process of learning new systems and things that we have switched, which showed up quite a bit this weekend.

“It’s just not very consistent yet. But when it is, it looks very good, very smooth. It’s going to be a real weapon for us.”

On Saturday, October 4th, the Huskies rallied from three one-goal deficits. However, the second of two goals on the night from forward Xavier Burgher – this one on the power play – put the away team ahead late in the third.

Other goal scorers on Saturday included team captain Grayden Alexander and Taryn Hoskyn.

Burgher, in his second year with the Huskies, had two goals and two assists for four points in the two games. Alexander said he’s most impressed with Burgher’s physicality so far this year.

“He’s always had tangibles that he’s been able to be successful with, but he needed to get a lot more physical,” said Alexander. “He’s really done a good job of that, and it’s showing up for him right now.”

However, a La Crete response from Canaan Doerksen set the stage for overtime. The Lumber Barons took the game on a winning goal from Nolan Cardinal.

Less than 24 hours later, the Huskies and Lumber Barons put down another hard-fought game at the Raymond Knelsen Arena.

The Lumber Barons, however, held the Huskies to just 22 shots on goal – taking the afternoon affair by the same 5-4 score.

Huskies goals came from Hoskyn, Ryan Ungstad, Carver Lequiere and Bevin Williams, who notched his first goal of the year.

A 19-year-old from Prince George, Williams also has seven assists for eight points.

“He has [been] a little bit snake bitten as far as scoring goals,” said Alexander. “He was hitting a lot of posts. I think he’s probably leading the team [in hitting] goal posts and crossbars, but finally got one to go in.”

After a seven-game road trip, the Huskies will host the first-place Navigators on Wednesday, October 8th. Game time is scheduled for 8 p.m. at the North Peace Arena.

The Huskies will play two of the next three games at home, something Alexander knows his team is looking forward to.

“We always enjoy coming back here,” said Alexander.

Details about the Huskies can be found on the team’s Facebook or Instagram pages and website.