SUNDRE – Despite being down their two point-scoring leaders going into the final round of playoffs in Caroline on Sunday, the Sundre U18 Huskies triumphantly emerged from the regular Central Alberta Hockey League season with their division’s banner.
The team “played phenomenal,” said head coach Jason Martyn.
The Huskies had earned a bye going into playoff rounds after finishing regular league play in second place with a record of 10 wins, four losses and two ties. West Country were the league leaders and thus also earned a by going into playoffs, said Martyn on Monday morning.
The Sundre Minor Hockey Association’s eldest team were firing on all cylinders essentially all weekend, with games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, finishing off the action-packed playoff series with a record of three wins and one loss, he said.
“The boys are tired,” said the coach.
They came out of the gates hard on home ice Friday night against Strathmore in the second round of playoffs, handily sweeping aside the competition with a substantial 10-2 spread.
However, the tempo changed on Saturday when the Huskies again faced off on home ice, but this time against West Country.
That match proved an uphill battle that ended in a 5-2 defeat and left the Huskies without their two top-scoring players going into Sunday’s game.
Doel Martyn, the team’s captain, suffered a knee injury and on Monday was in Red Deer with the coach – also his dad – to get assessed, while the squad was also down another player who on Saturday got a four-game suspension.
Undaunted and hungry for a comeback, the Huskies managed to turn the tables on West Country as the visitors playing away by ushering in an upset that left the league’s first-ranked team see their chance of winning the banner slip through their fingers.
“We went to Caroline (Sunday) night and the boys really dug in; everybody stepped up their game to another level and without the top-two leading points players on our team, ended up winning it 5 to 1,” the coach said, adding they not only brought home the league’s tier three orange banner but also secured a spot in the first round of provincial play downs.
That schedule was as of Monday morning still being determined, but Martyn anticipated that the Huskies would be playing a home game this coming Friday and then away on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Sundre U15 Huskies have moved onto their next playoff round against Hanna after also experiencing success over the past weekend. The schedule for those games coming up this weekend was also still be firmed up leading up to press deadline.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that the team was going into the first round of provincial play downs.
