Saint Mary’s boasts trio of No. 1 goalies

Saint Mary’s boasts trio of No. 1 goalies for 2022-23 season

The Saint Mary’s Huskies have a dilemma most hockey teams wished they had: an embarrassment of riches in goal.

“It’s a three-horse race,” Huskies head coach Tyler Naugler said of his stable of three No. 1 goaltenders. “It’s a situation we’ve never been in. I don’t think we’ve gone through a season where we’ve had three active goalies who each could play in significant games.”

After the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020-21 Atlantic university conference campaign, Halifax’s Matthew Welsh — who enjoyed a stellar five-year Quebec Major Junior Hockey League career with the Charlottetown Islanders — opened last season as the clear-cut No. 1 choice in goal for the Huskies.

He led the conference in minutes played (1,085) but his goals against average (3.48) and save percentage (.893) were middling.

But something funny happened on the way to the 2022 playoffs.

Unheralded rookie Justin Sumarah appeared in the Huskies’ final three regularseason games and won all three, including a 4-3 stunner over the U Sports No. 1 UNB Reds and a 2-0 shutout of Acadia. He faced exactly 100 shots over that span and made 96 saves.

Naugler rode the hot hand into the playoffs. Sumarah backstopped SMU to a sweep of UPEI in the quarter-finals to set up a semifinal matchup against a stalwart St. Francis Xavier squad. Despite being overwhelming underdogs, Sumarah and the Huskies forced the X-men to overtime in each game but came up short in the best-of-three series sweep. St. F.X. outshot SMU a combined 93-44 in the series, including 52-19 in the deciding Game 2.

“Man, did he ever take advantage of the opportunity,” Naugler said of Sumarah’s post-season performance.

The Huskies headed into the summer with a strong goaltending duo ready for 2022-23. That is until Jeremy Helvig entered the picture in August.

The 25-year-old from Markham, Ont., played four seasons with the OHL’S Kingston Frontenacs and was the Carolina Hurricanes’ fifthround pick (134th overall) in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

He played three seasons in the American Hockey League and the ECHL but sat out last season when he didn’t receive any pro opportunities.

Helvig trained with goalie coach Justin Peters, who played parts of five NHL seasons with the Hurricanes and had family connections with Saint Mary’s. His younger brothers Anthony (goalie) and Alex (defenceman) each played for the Huskies.

“I heard only good things about Halifax and Saint Mary’s and the competition in the AUS was really good,” Helvig said in a recent interview. “The pace of the game here is comparable to the east coast (ECHL). The guys are bigger and stronger. I was quite surprised how competitive the league is.

“I’m excited to play competitive hockey again. Hopefully after a few years it will lead to another pro opportunity. But it’s going to be a hard-fought battle for that No. 1 spot. We make each better. Going into practice every day, you’re trying to be the best goalie out there and work your hardest. I’m still learning things from the other guys.”

Naugler said his goaltending depth is “a good bad problem to have.”

“I don’t know who’s No. 1, let alone three,” said Naugler, in his 21st season with the Huskies hockey program. He was officially named head coach in April following two years with the interim tag.

“Jeremy is new to us but both Justin and Matt are the best teammates on our team. We have a great dressing room and this internal competition has not affected anyone’s focus, work ethic or attitude.

“Sometimes it takes a guy some time to get adjusted to this league. We’ve seen guys come into this league, who are really good players and it takes them some time to get used to it. It’s a big, heavy league which I consider as close to a professional hockey league as you could get.

“But we’re feeling pretty good in having three really good ones.”

The Huskies were slated to open their 2022-23 campaign on Wednesday evening at St. Francis Xavier.

But the aftermath of posttropical storm Fiona and the extended power outages that followed in Antigonish resulted in the St. F.X. Keating Centre to lose both of its ice surfaces. The Huskies-x-men game will be rescheduled later this season.

St. F.X. — U Sports bronze medalist at last spring’s University Cup in Wolfville — will now open on the road Saturday at Acadia. SMU will host Dalhousie at the Dauphinee Centre on Friday night.

The Huskies are a young team with only one senior skater, forward Dawson Theede. AUS first-team allstar Justin Macpherson will anchor the blue-line but the offence will be generated by committee.

“We have a first line, a second line and a front line,” Naugler said, referring to a third line that boasts a combined weight of over 700 pounds.

“We’ll be a heavy, hard team to play against.”

Two other games are scheduled for opening night. Acadia visits Dal on Wednesday night while UPEI entertains Moncton.

UNB, winners of the last four AUS men’s hockey banners, open at home Friday night against UPEI.