Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
On Tuesday, February 17th, the Northern Community Centre played host to a high-stakes, winner-take-all showdown as the fourth-place CASS Huskies faced the fifth-place White Pines Wolverines for a spot in the 2026 Sault Ste. Marie Boy’s High School Hockey League semi-final best-of-three series against regular season champions, the Korah Colts.
The Huskies set the tone early in the opening period. At 13:25, Gabe Stewart opened the scoring with his first goal of the postseason, finishing the play unassisted to give CASS a 1–0 lead. The Huskies doubled their advantage late in the frame when Jack McGonegal scored his first of the postseason at 2:20, converting a feed from Cody Herrington to make it 2–0 heading into the intermission.
White Pines responded with urgency in the second period. At 14:51, Saku Tuomi got the Wolverines on the board with his first goal of the postseason, assisted by Chase Socchia. The momentum continued on the power play at 6:59, as Socchia buried his first of the postseason to tie the game 2–2, with Steven Wabosse picking up the assist. However, the Huskies answered back late in the period. At 1:09, Austin Finlayson restored the CASS lead with a power-play marker, his first of the postseason, assisted by Noah Smith and Logan McAulay.
In the third period, the Huskies locked things down. At 6:55, Stewart struck again on the power play, scoring his second of the postseason and second of the game, once again unassisted, to extend the lead to 4–2. White Pines pressed late, but with the Wolverines net empty, Carter Pritchard sealed the victory at 1:53 with an unassisted empty-net goal, his first of the postseason, securing a 5–2 win for CASS.
Huskies netminder Jack Unetic and White Pines goaltender both stood tall between the pipes, seeing action in goal during the single-game quarterfinal matchup.
With the victory, the CASS Huskies advance to the semi-final round, where they will face the Korah Colts beginning Wednesday, February 18th, at the Northern Community Centre. In the other semi-final, the St. Mary’s Knights will take on the Superior Heights Steelhawks at the John Rhodes Centre. Both Game 1 matchups are set for a 3:30 p.m puck drop.
