President's Update - February 20th, 2017

Maroons and Rockets move on to semi-finals…The Strasbourg Maroons defeated the Avonlea Arrows 7-2 last Wednesday evening in Avonlea and moved on to the semi-finals to face the Lumsden Monarchs. Mark Cross led the way for the Maroons with three goals and two assists. Dylan Marcott, Tyson Orban, Donovan Thompson and Tanner Exner with a power play goal also scored for Strasbourg. Brendon Lewis and Cole Boychuk scored for the Arrows. Tyler Kifferling picked up the win in net for the Maroons and Jesse Gooding was in net for the Arrows. Each team was assessed four minor penalties and two misconducts. Also on Wednesday evening the Raymore Rockets defeated the Cupar Canucks in overtime 4-3 in Cupar to move on to the semi-finals against the Bethune Bulldogs. Cody Hall scored the first goal of the game to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead but Tyrell Shulko scored a power play goal late in the period and it was 1-1 going into the second period. In the second period Shulko scored his second goal of the game and it was 2-1 Raymore going into the second period. Early in the third period Nelson Davis scored to give the Rockets a 3-1 lead. The Canucks would then capitalize twice on the power play with goals from Cody Hall and Matthew Boha and this game headed to overtime. Fifty-one seconds into the overtime period Travis Mohr scored to give the Rockets the win. Riley Focht-Gabriel picked up the win in net for the Rockets. Devon Geber, an AP for the Canucks, played his first HHL game filling in for the injured Colby Miller and played well in net for the Canucks.

Lumsden Monarchs win first game of semi-final series…The Lumsden Monarchs defeated the Strasbourg Maroons 4-3 on Saturday evening in Lumsden to take a 1-0 lead in the best of five semi -final. In the first period the Monarchs scored once on the power play with a goal from Andrew Perrault. The Monarchs outshot the Maroons 18-6 in the first period. In the second period Tyson Orban scored early and the game was tied 1-1. Lumsden got the lead back with a power play goal from Kyle Johnson. Strasbourg would quickly tie the game 2-2 with a goal from Greg Ferguson. Late in the second period Kyle Johnson would score a shorthanded goal and the Monarchs led 3-2 going into the third period. Shots after two periods were 36-17 Monarchs. Bryce Hubick would score in the third period and the game was again tied. With less than ten minutes left in the game Brady Aulie scored what would be the winning goal for the Monarchs. Matt Weninger picked up the win in net for the Monarchs stopping 24 shots. Jeremy Ellis was in net for the Maroons and stopped 46 shots. Lumsden had five minor penalties and Strasbourg had seven. Game two of this series is Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. in Strasbourg. The Bethune Bulldogs will be in Raymore on Thursday evening for game one of the second semi-final series.

Raymore Rockets advance in Provincial ‘C’ action….The Raymore Rockets defeated the Ochapowace Thunder 11-4 in Raymore and 9-1 on Sunday evening to advance in Provincial ‘C’ play. This is the third series that the Rockets have won this year. They will now face either Wawota or Whitewood in the south final in a series that needs to be done by March 13th. In Provincial ‘B’ action the Wynyard Monarchs lost their first game of a two game total point series against the Watrous Winterhawks 11-6. Game two of this series will be on Monday, February 27th in Wynyard at 8:30 p.m.
Bethune Bulldogs and Lumsden Monarchs win game one of their Provincial ‘A’ Series….Bethune defeated the Milestone Flyers 5-3 in Milestone on Friday evening. The Bulldogs outshot the Flyers 43-23 in this game. Game two of this best of three series is in Bethune on Saturday, February 25th at 8:00 p.m. The Lumsden Monarchs opened up their series with a 6-3 victory over the Balgonie Bisons in Balgonie. Game two of this series will be in Lumsden at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 24th. The winners of these two series play each other in the Provincial ‘A’ south final.

League awards have been voted on and we will be announcing this year’s recipients in early March.

Provincial Schedules are listed under the Provincials tab and league playoff series are under the Schedule tab. You can follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/HighwayHockey all of our tweets, which include updates from all games, appear on the front page just under the Upcoming Games column if you just want to follow us on the website during games. You can also follow my account the Pensky File http://twitter.com/GeraldT

Thank you for supporting the Highway Hockey League. Enjoy playoffs and Provincials this weekend….

Gerry