Huskies netminder Adam Darbyshire got a shut away to the Chester Road Reapers at Deeside on Sunday (Photo by @haganovaphoto)
Sunday 2nd June – Challenge Match: Chester Road Reapers 0 – Halton Huskies 7
The Halton Huskies picked up a 0-7 road win away to the Deeside-based Chester Road Reapers in North Wales on Sunday.
This match was described as a “development” challenge, meaning that it was a game against a less experienced opposition team and gave an opportunity for some of the squad players to get more ice time than they might in a more competitive encounter.
Jake Berry opened the scoring for the Huskies in the 5th minute - with a powerplay goal punishing an interference call - and the score remained 0-1 at the first period break.
In all fairness to the opposition, this game was pretty close in its earlier stages and it took until the mid-way point for the next breakthrough. This fell again to the Huskies and a goal from Matt Mitchell on 29 minutes doubled the lead. A further Halton goal – from the stick of Jon Getty on 35 minutes – edged the Huskies further ahead and they led 0-3 at the second interval.
Halton extended their lead to 4 goals early in the third period with a second strike from Getty on 45 minutes and, shortly after this, the Reapers found themselves a player down for an extended spell following a 5 +Game penalty for an illegal check.
Thomas Pendlebury fired in a goal in the resulting powerplay to put the Huskies 0-5 ahead and the game seemed pretty much over as a contest.
Two goals within 22 seconds of each other on 56 minutes – from Stuart Jamieson and Dominic Gray – rounded off the scoring for the match and the Huskies were able to celebrate a 0-7 victory, with netminder Adam Darbyshire securing a 36-shot shut out
The Halton Huskies are next in action this Saturday 8th June when they take on the Manchester Swarm at Planet Ice Widnes, 4.15pm face off.
