Whitehorse Huskies elevate level of play

The Whitehorse Huskies have elevated their game almost to the triple A level they need to be at to compete for the Allan Cup, says head coach Randy Merkel.

The Whitehorse Huskies have elevated their game almost to the triple A level they need to be at to compete for the Allan Cup, says head coach Randy Merkel.

Merkel said despite dropping both games on the weekend to the visiting Powell River Regals, he was happy with what he saw.

“We can see we are very close right now to being competitive,” Merkel said in an interview following the two games. “We are very close right now.

“We have a couple or more pieces to add to the team and we are going to be very tough to beat, and we have a very good chance of moving past Powell River to the Allan Cup.”

Whitehorse, Powell River and Ft. St. John, the Allan Cup’s host city this year, are the only contenders to represent B.C. at the Allan Cup. A playoff format to determine who will advance to the cup championship in April has not yet been finalized.

The Regals defeated the Huskies 6-3 Friday night and 5-3 Saturday night at the Takhini Arena.

Third period penalty trouble Friday night broke the Huskies back as they moved to within one with 6:08 to play when Ryan Gleason made it 4-3 for the Huskies on assists by linemates Barry Blisner and Derek Johnstone.

Johnstone, however, took a roughing penalty less than a minute later and was joined in the box 20 seconds later by Huskies Ryan Esselmont who was penalized for goalie interference after he skated by Regal netminder Chad Vizzutti and took his feet out.

The Regals response was swift, as Charlie McDonald scored his second of the night on the power play to make it 5-3 and Regals Dan Nakaoka potted his second of the night with 2:25 remaining to make it a 6-3 final.

Also scoring for the Regals were Travis Bell and Jason Kean.

Esselmont opened the scoring for the Huskies Friday on assists from Kevin Flather and John Craighead. Johnstone scored the second goal on a pass from Aaron Pettit.

On Saturday,  Powell River jumped to a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Chris Tarr and Scott Mastrodonato, his first of three for the night. Whitehorse made it a one-goal game early in the second on an unassisted marker by Brandon Fleenor.

The Regals, however, opened the lead to two goals again with their third goal coming with just four seconds remaining in the second period when Joe Caldarone scored his only goal of the two games.

The Huskies drew to within one early in the third when Esselmont scored his first of two for the night on an assist by Fleenor and Craighead.

The Regals responded three minutes later with Mastrodonato’s second of the night and with 3:22 remaining in the third, Mastrodonato completed the hat-trick and put the game on ice for Powell River.

Merkel, however, took one last stab at when he pulled Huskies goaltender Brian Power and made it 5-3 on Esselmont’s second of the night.

While the Regals dominated play Friday night, it was the Huskies who carried the play but couldn’t get it by Powell River’s netminder.

“We couldn’t score,” Merkel said. “After we controlled 60 per cent of the play (Saturday) we couldn’t put the puck in the net.

“You can’t win if you don’t score.”

The head coach said the club doesn’t need much but he’ll be looking to add a little scoring punch before Wednesday’s deadline to finalize the team roster for the Allan Cup.

The intent, he said, is to maintain a 50-50 split to the roster; half the players from Whitehorse and half from Outside.

Merkel said he realizes some locals may take exception to having so many imports on Whitehorse club.

In reality, however, it’s not possible to compete at the Allan Cup level with only locals, he said.

Merkel said that’s not true of Whitehorse, but practically all teams that compete for the national senior men’s championship.

When the Powell River Regals last won the Allan Cup, they had five locals on the roster, he pointed out.

Merkel said teams that compete for the national championship have their share of former professionals who’ve played in the East Coast Hockey League, in Europe and even the NHL.

Teams need to pick up players who’ve played at that level if they want to compete, he said.

Returning to the Huskies roster will be Cory McEachern, a Whitehorse goalie who has won two Allan Cups with teams from down south. McEachern started the season but withdrew because personal reasons but he’s got the fever to play again, he said.

Overall, said Merkel, the Huskies demonstrated this weekend that they are a contender, and they played some aggressive, hard hitting hockey, but it wasn’t dirty hockey.

He said he was disappointed by the relatively low number of fans who came out for both games, insisting more support from fans and the business community is needed if the Huskies are going to survive.

It is expensive to fly in Huskies players and other teams,  he said.

Merkel said there needs to be stronger support from the community when the Ft. St. John Flyers come to town in late March.

“The hockey is excellent hockey that we have seen in this town for 17 years since the last time the Huskies competed for (and won) the Allan Cup,” he said. “Everyone I talked to who was there said ‘man, that was great hockey.’”

The goal, Merkel emphasized, is to develop a local Huskies franchise that can provide local fans with the same calibre they saw this weekend not just this year, but for years into the future.

As the calibre gets higher, so does the ability of local players to compete at this level.

It would be great, said Merkel, to have a Huskies team that can provide a place to play for large number of Yukon youth who are and who have competed at elevated levels outside the Yukon.

“I think everything is actually coming along just fine from the team end of things,” he said. “We have a few things to go to make our team a little better because these other teams are going to get better.

“But it cost money to put on this kind of hockey and it’s very important to try and get more people to come out and support the team or else we are going to have trouble surviving.”