Huskies Lose Hard Fought Battle To KUA

The New Hampton Huskies traveled to Meriden, NH this afternoon to take on Lakes Region rival, Kimball Union Academy, the #2 ranked team in Prep School Hockey. The Huskies are riding a three game win streak but will have tough work ahead of them today as Kimball Union has been playing good hockey as well, winning their last six games. The game started out fast and furious, both teams had come to play. Although, New Hampton was ready to play, the game did not start the way they had hoped. Kimball Union scored just over two minutes in, on a pass that deflected off a Husky defender and into their own net, giving Kimball Union the early lead. New Hampton continued to play well and the game saw back and forth action for the next nine minutes. With six and a half minutes remaining in the period, Kimball Union scored their second goal of the game that was deflected in by a Husky defender. After going down by two, due to some unfortunate bounces, New Hampton remained composed and continued to play solid hockey to finish out the period. The second period saw a lot of action from both teams, but neither was able to score. Four minutes into the third period Kimball Union took advantage of a New Hampton defensive mistake to take a three goal lead over the Huskies. New Hampton was not fazed and continued to work hard to get back into the game. With eight minutes remaining in the game, Duke Litwin’s goal for New Hampton, made it a two goal game. Cory Morris won a puck battle in the Kimball Union defensive zone and made a nice cross ice pass from the corner to Steven Ardagna at the point. Ardagna looked as if he was going to shoot and passed cross ice to Duke Litwin, who was wide open on the back door. Litwin made no mistake tapping the puck in the open net. With three minute remaining in the game and still down by two, the Huskies pulled their goal to try and score. Kimball Union was able to take advantage of the empty net, scoring to take back their three goal lead with just over two minutes remaining. Isaac MacLeod scored a nice short-handed goal before the end of the game. MacLeod stole the puck from a Kimball Union player near the defensive zone blue line. Then chipped it by a Kimball Union defenseman and out raced two Kimball Union players to go in on a breakaway, before sniping top corner, glove side. Despite losing 4-2, MacLeod’s goal ended the game on a good note for the Huskies. New Hampton was a couple bad bounces from being right there with one of the top teams in Prep School. Matt Sayles was great in net, stopping 39 of the 42 shots he faced. Things do not get any easier for the Huskies, as they travel to play Dexter School, the #4 ranked team in Prep School hockey, on Wednesday.