Huskies, Renegades are back at it
High school teams in rematch after facing off for Waterloo County hockey crown in 2017
KITCHENER — For the second consecutive year, the Huron Heights Huskies and Grand River Renegades will square off in the championship game of the Waterloo County (WCSSAA) boys hockey league.
The Huskies made the rematch official by scoring a 7-3 win over KCI Raiders on Monday afternoon in the deciding game of their best-of-three playoff semifinal series. Sahrung Sehra and Nolan Lafrance turned in twogoal performances at the Activa Sportsplex, Jon Richards, Matthew Ortleib and Colter Roughly added singles.
Regardless of the outcome of Wednesday night’s final (Patrick J. Doherty Arena, 8 p.m.), the Huskies and Renegades both move on to next week’s Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) championship in Fergus.
“KCI played a great series, they have a good group of guys ... it’s nice to take them out,” said Sehra, before turning his attention to the Renegades. “They’re a good team, they’ve always been a good team. It will be a tough task but hopefully we can bring it to them.”
Meanwhile, the Bluevale Knights will take on the Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders in the WCSSAA girls hockey final as both teams won semifinal games Monday. The Knights advanced with a 4-0 win over the Elmira Lancers and the Crusaders recorded a 3-0 win over the Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders.
The Huskies exploded out of the gate in Monday’s deciding game and were up 2-0 after the first period on goals by Sehra and Richards. KCI responded with an explosion of its own when Andrew Burkimsher and Owen Smith scored 20 seconds apart to tie the game in the first minute of the second period. The Raiders’ rally ended there and the Huskies responded with three goals in the next five minutes to take control at 5-2.
Aidan Thomson scored for KCI to make it 5-3 but Sehra restored the three-goal lead in the final minute of the second period. Ortleib’s goal came as time expired, with KCI goaltender Alex Higgins on the bench in favour of an extra attacker. Victor Schwanen started the game in net for KCI but was pulled after the fifth goal. Calvin Cina went the distance in net for Huron Heights.
KCI head coach Nathan Millar said he was “very proud” of his players after the loss which he pegged on his team’s inability to get off to a fast start. “Two years ago, we were 0-11-1 and nine guys in that dressing room were part of that team,” he said. “We’ve come a long way from two years ago.”
Grand River scored five thirdperiod goals in last year’s final and recorded a 7-2 victory. The Renegades went on to win the Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) championship but made an early exit at the subsequent allOntario (OFSAA) championship. This season, Huron Heights scored a 9-5 win over Grand River in early December and finished atop the standings with a 9-1 record. The Renegades were 6-2-2 during the regular season and appear to be peaking at the right time.
Millar gives the edge to Grand River, a team his father Brian coached for more than three decades and now serves as an assistant to Scott McCulloch.
“I think Grand River is too deep, I would give the edge to Grand,” he said. “I’ve played them a couple of times this year and they just outwork you, every line.”
In girls play, Maya Graham scored twice, Val Wolf added a single and Sara Komorowski recorded the shutout in Waterloo-Oxford’s win. In Bluevale’s win, Meghan Anton scored three goals, Emma Savoie added one and Taylor Barton got the shutout. The WCSSAA girls final will be played Wednesday afternoon (3 p.m., RIM Park).