It took a quadruple overtime but the Airdrie Xtreme are the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League (AMBHL) Champions with a 2-1 victory against the St. Albert Sabres March 21.
The Xtreme outlasted the Sabres in the more than 126 minutes of hockey in Game 5 to capture its fifth provincial title.
“It was an extremely competitive series. Both teams left it all on the line,” said assistant coach Reid Hnatowich. “It came down to who was mentally able to stay focused.
“Huge props to both teams because, for 13- and 14-year-olds, they played some strenuous hockey.”
In a series that had four overtimes and each game decided by just a single goal, it was Tristan Zandee who potted to series-clincher.
After a scoreless first period, the Sabres opened scoring midway through the second frame. Despite trailing for the better part of the second and third periods, Hnatowich said the Xtreme never let the pressure get to them and the team waited for its moment to tie up the game.
“They all knew they had a task to complete,” Hnatowich said.
“I don’t think it was a matter of if a puck was going to go in, it was a matter of when.”
With less than 10 minutes left in regulation, Tegan Skehar knotted the game up with a power-play marker to break the Xtreme’s goose egg.
As both teams were unable to capture the win in regulation, the game headed into overtime.
With tensions running high and just one goal required to end the series, both squads played hard, denying the other scoring chances. The exhausted players battled it out until Zandee finally found the back of the net off a broken play in the Sabres zone.
“Both teams were playing so good, it was going to be the first major slip up (that would end the series),” Hnatowich said.
“When you get that deep into the game, those are going to happen.”
By virtue of being the Alberta provincial champions, the Xtreme earned the right to represent the province in the 2018 Western Canadian Bantam AAA Championships March 29 to April 1 in Kamloop, B.C.
Airdrie will take on the provincial champions of British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well as the host team in the final year of the tournament.
The Xtreme kicked off its tournament March 29 (after press time) against the West Central Wheat Kings.
