Soo goalie in New Liskeard
A small market team that generally utilizes players from the surrounding area, New Liskeard Cubs of the Great North Midget Hockey League brought in Zach Prusky from 325 miles away at Sault Ste. Marie to be one of their goalies for this season.
And thus far through the first eight games of the 2019-2020 regular season, Prusky has effectively shared net-minding duties with holdover Alex Date.
New Liskeard head coach Steve Polyblank likes both the ability and commitment of the 16-year old Prusky, who beat out three other rookie goalies to earn the nod to form the Cubs net tandem with the aforementioned Date.
“He came to our spring camp and among the four rookie goalies who tried out Zach was the best one,” Polyblank told Hockey News North. “Our staff deemed him to be the best goalie there and the fact that he was willing to leave home in the Soo to play hockey for us here in New Liskeard says a lot about Zach’s commitment and dedication to the game.
“And so far this season he has played well for us,” Polyblank said of Prusky. “He works hard at improving. Zach has done a really good job for us.”
Through four full games this season — and part of another — Prusky has a record of 1-2-1 and a goals against average of 4.25. His only rough outing came when both he and Date combined to get lit up by the Soo Jr. Greyhounds in an 8-4 loss.
Polyblank likes Prusky and Date as his two goalies.
“It’s a good situation for us to have a returning goalie in Alex and an up and coming young goalie like Zach,” Polyblank relayed.
While Prusky is 1-2-1 with a 4.25, Date’s statistics show a 2-2-0 record and a 4.77 goals against average.
As for the 5-foot-10, 165-pound Prusky, he played at the minor midget level within the Sault Major Hockey Association ranks in 2018-2019. He also suited up for the Cochrane Crunch of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League as an emergency backup, affiliated player.
Before that, Prusky tended twine for the Soo Greyhounds of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association AAA Bantam League.
Meanwhile, up in New Liskeard, the Cubs lost their first four games of the 2019-2020 Great North season but have since rebounded with three wins and an overtime setback to improve their record to 3-4-1.
