Try as they might, the Airdrie Bisons could not extinguish the Flame of the AEHL south division’s top-seeded team.
Airdrie’s U18 AAA boys' hockey team’s playoff run came to an end on March 5, after coming out on the wrong end of a two-game sweep in their best-of-three series against the Calgary Flames in the second round of the Alberta Elite Hockey League’s post-season.
The Flames, who finished first in the south division regular season, outscored the Bisons 6-3 on March 1 and followed that up with a 5-4 victory four nights later to secure the series.
While the Bisons players were disappointed to see their playoff run come to a close, head coach Brad Bourke said there were many positives to take away from the Airdrie squad’s first trip to the post-season since 2017.
“It was a good, hard-fought series,” he said. “Obviously, they were the number-one seed for a reason.”
Bourke said the Bisons struggled with slow starts against Calgary, which allowed the Flames to build up early leads that Airdrie could not come back from.
“Both of our first periods, we’d probably like to have those back,” he said. “They kind of put us behind the eight-ball a little bit and we were always fighting our way back.
“But as a whole, we’re super proud of the kids for competing and battling like they did. We made game two really close and could have [won] game one, too. We’re proud of the kids for the year they’ve had.”
The Bisons will graduate seven or eight players from the U18 age group this year, according to Bourke.
But even though they will need to rebuild the roster next fall, he said the Bisons coaches are excited about the crop of players moving up from younger age groups, including the Airdrie-Cochrane Avalanche U16 AAA team and the Airdrie Xtreme U15 AAA team, who are having their best season since 2017-18. The Airdrie Lightning U15 AA boys' team is also having a banner year.
“We’re very excited with the 2007-birthday [players] we have coming through. The Avalanche have had a very good second half of the year, so we’re excited about the kids coming through and can’t wait to get back at it,” Bourke said.
While the AEHL season is over for the Bisons until October, the team will still have plenty of hockey to play at the Mac's U18 AAA Invitational Hockey Tournament in early April.
Lightning advance
The Airdrie Lightning U18 AA girls’ hockey team is moving onto the second round of the Alberta Female Hockey League (AFHL) playoffs after sweeping the Rocky Mountain Raiders in their best-of-three opening series on March 4 and 5.
The Lightning shut out the Rams 3-0 in game one and managed to win game two the following afternoon despite plenty of hard, physical play from the Okotokians.
Lightning head coach Barry McElligott said his players were at their best in game one, and had to come with a very different game plan the following day.
“It was arguably our best effort of the season in Airdrie [on March 4], and then we played them on Saturday in Okotoks and it was tough,” he said.
“It’s tough to eliminate teams in two games, so I was proud of how the girls were able to step up like that.”
McElligott said the Lightning, who finished fourth in the AFHL south division in the regular season, are now preparing for the second round of the playoffs against the Calgary Fire White.
The Fire White will not be an easy opponent, as Calgary was the top-seeded team in the regular season, losing just five games all year.
However, Airdrie’s head coach noted two of those defeats came against his players.
“I think we’re matched up for a really intense and good series of hockey,” McElligott said. “I truly feel if the girls can focus on each and every moment, we’ll play some good hockey and have a chance to make it through.”
The series will open in Calgary on March 11. Airdrie will host game two the following day at 5:45 p.m. at the Ron Ebbesen Arena.
Lightning prepare for post-season
After facing plenty of injury issues throughout the regular season, the Airdrie Lightning U18 AA boys’ hockey team is preparing for much of the same in the South Central Alberta Hockey League (SCAHL) playoffs.
The Lightning finished their regular season in fourth place of the SCAHL U18 north division, and will therefore be the fourth-seeded team at this weekend’s playoff tournament, held in Sylvan Lake from March 10 to 13.
Head coach Shaun Guest said the Lightning have faced their share of injury issues this year, and will be without captain Dayton Kulynych, who recently broke his collarbone and will be helping coach from the bench this weekend.
“We played a total of not even a full period with our full roster this year,” Guest said.
Despite their injury issues, the Lightning managed to boast a 15-15-4 regular-season record, and had they won their last game of the regular season last weekend, would have finished the season in second place of their division.
Considering the parity of the SCAHL north division this year, Guest said the players will need to approach each game at this weekend's tournament with intensity.
“The boys know they can beat any one of these teams in the north,” he said. “As long as our fore-check is strong and we’re fine with our power play – which is really clicking right now – I think we’ll have a [good weekend] and hopefully repeat what the bantam AAs did last weekend by winning the north championship.”
