EPIC MIDGET AAA BATTLE
By GORDON ANDERSON
Daily Herald-Tribune
The St. Albert Raiders scored two power-play goals and added a short-handed marker, in an eventual 5-2 win over the Grande Peace AAA midget Storm in Alberta Midget Hockey League (AMHL) action at the Coca-Cola Centre on Sunday afternoon.
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, the St. Albert club bagged a brace of goals to take a 2-0 lead before the middle frame was five minutes old.
“Their first two goals were power play goals and their third goal, our guy had just come out of the box,” Storm Associate Coach Riley Boomgaarden said. “That’s one thing, we can’t take penalties against them. That’s just being disciplined on our part.”
“We had a good start, holding in with them five-on-five,” Storm Captain Edge Lambert added. “It was the penalty killing and the power play which was the difference in the game and they came out on top in that department.”
With the win, the Raiders (15-9-4) move four points ahead of the Storm (13-10-4) for second place in the AMHL north division. The home side are 0-2 against the Raiders this year, having dropped a 3-2 decision back in September.
Lambert was totally correct in his assessment as far as the first period goes. Just based on the clear-cut chances, the home-side had enough gilt-edged opportunities to stake themselves to a healthy lead after 20 minutes.
Lambert himself had a breakaway but was silenced by Raiders goalie Andreai Proctor-Ramirez.
Lambert said post-game he lost control of the puck when it “rolled up my stick.” There was an open net waiting to be breached but the effort flew by the open net from the low slot. Toss in two or three other missed chances and the Storm skated to the dressing room with nothing to show for the effort.
“I thought there were a few times in the first period where we could have gotten a little more luck and gotten a goal and I think that changes the outcome of the game, a little bit,” Boomgaarden said. “Maybe, it doesn’t quite get out of hand [like it was at 5-1 for them at one point].”
The Storm eventually cut the 2-0 deficit in half when Jayden Watson knocked home a rebound at 4:48 of the second period, but the visitors restored the two-goal lead over nine minutes later, scoring five seconds after Kaden Reinders escaped the penalty box, having spent two minutes in the box for interference.
The forward couldn’t get back into the frenzied action before the Raiders banged the puck home following an extended scramble in front of Storm goalie Cameron Beson. The Storm back-stop turned aside 24 shots in the loss.
From there, the winners of the recent Mac’s AAA Midget Hockey Tournament increased the lead to 5-1 with a short-handed goal and a five aside goal in the third, before Kai Magnusson capped the scoring with a turnaround slap shot from the half boards with 6:18 left in the game.
Perhaps it’s putting the cart a couple of months before the horse, but all minds do wander from time to time. Let it be known Jan. 13 was a day the ‘p’ word was spoken.
“This is a team we could very meet in the playoffs,” Boomgaarden said. “This is a team we want to beat [and we] need to do a better job of focusing next time.”
“We can beat those guys,” Lambert added. “It will be a tough battle, if we get there.”
Coming into the game, the club’s were separated by two points while their goals for and goals against numbers were close. The Raiders had scored 84 goals while the Storm had 82 markers. The mustard and blue gang had surrendered 70 goals, compared to 75 for the Raiders.
“If you look at both teams, we are close in the standings and we both play a very similar game,” Boomgaarden said, while noting both teams are somewhat similar in the physicality department. “We’re two very similar teams and I think it goes to show [in the stats]. [We both have] similar skill levels.”
ICE CHIPS: In Alberta Bantam Hockey League play the GPAC Golden Arrow Storm fell 7-2 Saturday and 5-1 on Sunday to the Bobcats in Lloydminster. Tyson Buchan and Rhys Doyle scored on Saturday and Vaugh Kaliel (45 saves) tended goal while on Sunday Evyn Hasen got the goal and Connor Stojan made 49 stops. GA sits in fifth in the Charger Division with three points.
The GPAC Boston Pizza U16 Storm of the Alberta Minor Midget Hockey League lost a pair at home against the Lloydminster Bobcats - 4-2 on Saturday and 5-2 on Sunday. Tye Evans and Landon Hedges scored in the first game and Eric Schultz made 33 saves while on Sunday Evans and Chase Jonzon scored and Terris Lappenbush made 39 saves. BP sits in ninth in the North Division with 14 points.
Lloydminster was also in town, this time the Blazers, to take on the GPAC Peaceland Directional Drilling Storm on Saturday falling 6-4 to the locals in Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League play. Keaton Mercredi had a pair and Damon Belcourt, Tanner Vinck, Tanner Davy and J.D. Sunshine singles while Rylan Labrie made 26 saves. PDD is fourth in the Bouchier Division with 17 points.
The GPAC Dreger Racing Team Storm played a pair on the road on the weekend defeating the Strathcona Warriors 6-1 on Saturday and losing 4-3 to the Beaumont Braves on Sunday in Edmonton Rural Bantam AA Hockey League action. Brody West, Evan Wagner, Hayden Schultz, Carter Kreller, Deizel Leet and Olen Nordhagen got the GP goals and Derek Sparks made 27 saves on Saturday while Trey Stephenson had two and West and single, and Ethan Barron made 34 saves, on Sunday. Dreger sits in third place in the Black Division with 25 points.
