The OPRF Huskies (8-13-1) lost to the Waubonsie Valley Warriors in the waning seconds of a game on Saturday night at All Seasons Arena. The Huskies were in control for nearly the entire game when the unexpected happened and the Warriors managed two goals in the last 20 seconds to pull ahead and take the 3-2 win.
The loss propelled OPRF to a 4-1 clobbering of Fenwick 2 on Sunday at Ridgeland Commons for the team’s final regular season game.
The first two periods in the loss to Waubonsie were pretty evenly played with OPRF coming out on top when Brett Newman fired a shot past the Waubonsie goalie at 8:32. This was a power-play goal and Al McDonnell and Dan Miscovic were credited with assists. The goal was the only scored in the first two periods.
In the second period, OPRF was on defense much of the time as the Huskies were short-handed for four extra-penalty minutes. At the end of the second, junior goalie Bob Grayson had stopped 24 shots on goal to the 15 shots on the Waubonsie goalie.
With 33 seconds off the clock in the third period, Waubonsie managed its first goal of the night to tie the game. Al McDonnell then took charge and marched down the ice after a pass from Adam Palmore and scored a short-handed goal six seconds later. Things looked promising for the Huskies, despite the one goal differential.
In the final seconds of the game, Waubonsie pulled their goalie and made good use of the one-man advantage. They scored the goal that tied the game with 20 seconds on the clock. Following the face-off, Waubonsie, still playing without their goalie, managed to clear Grayson from the net and score the game winner.
Grayson ended the game with 37 saves on 40 shots on goal.
The team regrouped Sunday for their final Metro West game of the regular season. The Huskies managed their third straight win over Fenwick 2.
Matt McDonnell took a pass from brother Al and scored 1 minute and 9 seconds after the opening face-off. Palmore was also given an assist.
With 8:30 left to go in the first period, Phil O’Connor scored with Matt McDonnell assisting. With only 25 seconds left in the period, senior Masin Ouksel scored a goal to complete the scoring in the first period of the game. Nate Corwin and Brett Newman assisted on the score.
Freshman Tanner Houston was in net and stopped 8-of-8 shots on goal in the first half. He finished stopping 14-of-15 shots on the night.
The second period was quiet and despite having six power play minutes, OPRF failed to put the puck in the net. Instead, the Friars scored their lone goal of the night with 4:27 left in the period. The final goal of the night came at 8:10 in the third period when Jim Minaghan scored with Ouksel and Al McDonnell assisting.
The victory was clearly a positive finish to the season as the Huskies gear up for Metro West and State playoff games that begin next week.
A press release contributed to this report.
