President's Update - March 16th, 2015

Bethune versus Lanigan in Provincial ‘A’ Final….Congratulations to the Bethune Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are the third HHL team in three years to reach the Provincial ‘A’ final. Bethune will begin their best of three final on Saturday evening in Lanigan against the Pirates. Last year Lanigan was defeated 2-0 in the final by the Wynyard Monarchs. Game two will be the following Friday evening in Bethune. The Bulldogs reached the final with a 5-3 victory over Balgonie on Friday evening. Russ Nielson with two goals (one ppg) and Jake Ulmer with two goals led the way for the Bulldogs. Chad Filteau also scored for the Bulldogs.

On Sunday the Avonlea Arrows lost 6-1 to the Gull Lake Greyhounds, the same team they defeated in the semi-final on their way to the Provincial ‘D’ title last year. The Arrows lost the series 2 games to one. Congratulations to the Arrows on another great Provincial run.

Our League final began last Wednesday evening in Bethune. In the first period there were four power play goals. Donovan Hall and Dale Spelchen scored the first two goals of the game to give the Monarchs a 2-0 lead. Ryan Funk and Shea Van Luven would reply before the first period was over and the teams were tied going into the second period.  In the second period Joel Kot would score just 22 seconds into the period but Wynyard would reply quickly as Spelchen would score his second goal of the game 45 seconds later. Mike Reich would score to put the Bulldogs up 4-3 going into the third period. In the third period Lyle Ostapowich would score Wynyard’s third power play goal of the game halfway through the period and the teams would go into overtime. Kyle Ross scored 2:11 into OT and the Bulldogs would win 5-4. Ryan Seibel stopped 34 of 38 shots fired his way for the win in the Bethune net. Dave Perkin stopped 43 of 48 shots fired his way in the Wynyard net. There were no penalties in the last fifteen minutes of the game but prior to that Wynyard was assessed 17 minor penalties and 74 minutes in total and Bethune received 13 minor penalties and 46 minutes in total.

Game two of this series was played Monday evening in Wynyard. Cody Straker opened the scoring just 46 seconds into the game to give the Monarchs the early lead. Matt Strueby would score shortly after that to make it 2-0 Wynyard. Late in the period Mike Reich scored for the Bulldogs and it was 2-1 Wynyard going into the second period. The only two goals scored in the second period came from Bethune with Kyle Ross and Mike Reich with his second goal of the evening scoring. In the third period Chad Mazurak would score to tie the game and then Dale Spelchen would score to give the Monarchs a 4-3 lead. With just over three minutes left in the game Kyle Ross would get his second goal of the game to tie the game up. It looked like overtime was looming again but Riley Storzuk would score with just eight seconds left in the game and the Monarchs tied this series up with a 5-4 win. Dave Perkin picked up the win in net for the Monarchs and Ryan Seibel was in net for the Bulldogs. Wynyard had twelve minor penalties and Bethune had fourteen.

Game three of this series is Wednesday evening in Bethune and we will update as usual on Twitter which will show on our front page.

League awards will be announced next week. Please get out to a game near you and thank you for supporting the Highway Hockey League.

Gerry Tomkins

President - HHL