AA midget teams prepare for playoffs

The fourth time proved the charm for the Airdrie Lightning AA midget women’s hockey team. After three losses against the Calgary Fire Red earlier this year – two of which were in shootouts – the Lightning wrapped up its 2018-19 Alberta Female Hockey League (AFHL) regular season March 3 by beating the Fire Red 3-2 in overtime. “…It’s nice to come back and finally beat them for a change,” said Lightning head coach Jay Simpson. “We’d had a shootout loss against them and we were always close, so it was nice to [get the win]. Emma Hoppins and Aly Tinevez found the back of the net during regulation time, before Codi Bacon notched the winner shortly into the overtime period. “After the first period, we asked the girls to be more intense and essentially put more pressure,” Simpson said. “We were sitting back and watching a lot. Once we got our feet moving and got a bit more aggressive, the game seemed to turn around for us.” The win means Airdrie finishes the 2018-19 regular season in fourth place of the south division in the AFHL’s Midget Elite league, with a 15-11 record, including three overtime wins and three overtime defeats. “I think the first four teams, we’re all pretty close,” said Hoppins. “Lots of our games went into shootouts and overtime. We’ll have to play hard in the playoffs to beat even the lower teams.” Following an end-of-year slump that saw the Lightning lose five of its previous six fixtures, Simpson said finally overcoming Calgary was a nice way to close out the regular season – and send a message to the three teams ahead of Airdrie in the south division standings. “We’ve now beaten both Calgary teams and we’ve beaten Red Deer,” he said. “It’s just a matter of losing some games we probably should have won.” Airdrie’s first playoff opponent will be the Rocky View Raiders. Game 1 of the best-of-three series goes March 8 at 8 p.m. at the Genesis Place Recreation Centre.

Heading to Lacombe

On the AA midget men’s side, the Airdrie Lightning also concluded its 2018-19 regular season March 3, with a 4-3 loss to the Red Deer Elks. The loss to Red Deer came a day after the Lightning fell 4-2 to the Bow Valley Timberwolves. “The boys played very well,” said head coach Sean Gilbert. “We outshot both teams in both games but, unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side of the scoreboard.” The March 3 game was particularly special, according to Gilbert, as it marked the final home game for 11 of Airdrie’s players who will be aging out of minor hockey at the end of the post-season. The Lightning finished in the basement of the South Central Alberta Hockey League’s (SCAHL) North Conference with a 10-21-3 record and, with the regular season wrapped up, the team will compete at the SCAHL playoff tournament, March 7 to 10 in Lacombe. Airdrie’s post-season will begin March 7 against the top-seeded West Central Tigers. The Lightning will continue its playoff schedule the following day, with games against the third-seeded Olds Grizzlys and the fourth-seeded Central Alberta Selects, before concluding the round robin March 9, against the second-seeded Red Deer CanPro. "Unfortunately, we are the seventh seed,” Gilbert said. “We have a tough road ahead of us, but we’ve beaten everyone except the top seed, so who knows what will happen? That’s why you play the games.” According to Gilbert, burying its scoring opportunities will be the team’s priority in Lacombe. “The last couple of games, we had a lot of shots on net, but not a lot of goals,” he said. “It’s just about bearing down and finishing.”