Battle Mountain hockey peaking for the playoffs

The Battle Mountain boys hockey team started the season 1-6, but after last weekend’s home sweep of Mullen and Summit, the Huskies appear to be peaking for the playoffs.

“The team overall is starting to execute the game plans that the coaches are giving them,” head coach George Wilson said. 

“(They) have developed the needed physical conditioning and mental toughness at this point in the season. Although we have had some learning along the way, the team chemistry has developed nicely.”

Wilson said the Husky locker room has benefited from its weekly book discussions on Stephen E. Ambrose’s “Band of Brothers.” The coach said Easy Company, the 506th Infantry Regiment, offer “excellent examples” for the team to learn from.

“The brotherhood, unity of the company in the face of adversity, (the) leadership, sacrifice and camaraderie in victories and losses — this type of discussion has helped the team believe in themselves and their teammates in the pursuit of their shared goals,” the coach said.

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“I feel the team overall is peaking at the right time and we will be quite disruptive to any team we face in the playoffs.”

In the 4-1 win over Mullen on Feb. 9, Wilson was impressed with how his squad maintained possession in the defensive, neutral and offensive zones.

“In the defensive zone, players were blocking shots, breaking up plays and minimizing scoring opportunities,” he said before praising freshman goalie Cameron Mather for his 27-save performance.

The Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead thanks to Teddy Johnson’s first career goal with 12:53 to go and another score from Gustav Wenninger 33 seconds later. Roman Gennett then put the puck in the back of the net with 13 ticks remaining in the second period to give the home team a 3-0 lead. Mullen tacked on a score in the third, but Trevyn Delong, who had an assist on Wenninger’s score, put the game away with his own unassisted goal halfway through the final period.

Though the Huskies took down the Tigers the following day by the same 4-1 final, the names in the boxscore were all different. Connor Wadey, Mason Darnall, Rutley Heinemann and captain Kirk Slaugh each tallied a goal in the Mountain League victory as the Huskies improved to 7-10.

Slaugh, one of five seniors honored at Friday’s game, has emerged as one of the team’s leaders, Wilson said.

“He has a team that is ready to follow him into the playoffs,” Wilson said.

The three (North, South, Mountain) 4A league winners plus the next seven best teams in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index will qualify for the post-season. The Huskies, fourth in the Mountain League, were ranked eighth in the state as of the Feb. 12 poll. They play their final regular-season contest in Vail against Dakota Ridge on Feb. 17.  

“To be the sharpest, we need to stick to the game plan and improve our special teams efficiency in penalty kill and power plays,” Wilson said. 

“If the team can do that, we will be a dangerous team going into the playoffs.”