Huskies goaltender rides hot starts to NWJHL’s top star of the week

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A Fort St. John Huskies goaltender rode last week’s victories to the top spotlight for the past seven days.

The Strike Group North West Junior Hockey League (NWJHL) presented its weekly top three stars on Wednesday, October 15th at 9:30 a.m., with Evan Baker recognized as last week’s number one star, according to a Facebook post.

He was a stalwart in net last week, with a goals against average (GAA) of 1.33 and a save percentage of .938, as the Pups won contests against the North Peace Navigators, Sexmith Vipers and Beaverlodge Blades.

He also recorded his first shutout of the year in a 5-0 win over the Vipers on Friday, October 10th.

Huskies head coach Todd Alexander described Baker as a “good human,” adding the 19-year-old is beginning to come into his own as a goaltender.

“The last week or so it’s really started to click for him,” said Alexander. “Hopefully we just continue to see the rise of or the evolution of his game.

“We usually do a good job of not giving up as many scoring chances as the other team on a fairly consistent basis. So it’s very important for our goaltender to at least get the ones that we think he should get. Nothing’s ever perfect, but when he’s gobbling those up and ahead of the opposition, as far as shutting them down, what you get is a week that we just had out of him.”

Baker is in his second full season with the Huskies. He made one start in the 2023-24 NWJHL season and spent last season as the backup to Ethan Fechter.

Baker’s combined NWJHL totals are 23 wins, six losses and two overtime defeats with a GAA of 2.33 and a save percentage of .894 with five shutouts.

Baker and the Huskies will head down to Dawson Creek for their next game against the Kodiaks on Friday, October 17th at the Ovintiv Events Centre starting at 8 p.m.