The Airdrie Thunder had a busy weekend.
Not only did the team have to adjust to new head coach Art Krusel, but it also had to play three games in less than 48 hours.
The Thunder earned four of the possible six points with a 7-4 home ice win over the Ponoka Stampeders on Jan. 14 and a 7-1 road win over the Rimbey Rock, Jan. 15, before falling 5-2 to the Wranglers in Blackfalds on Jan. 16.
Kristian Petit, Andrew Bergmann and Travis Wallan each tallied eight points to lead the offence during the weekend. Netminder Logan Marlow made 29 saves to earn the Ponoka win, while Jeff Gardiner made 30 saves in the Rimbey win and 38 saves in a losing effort to Blackfalds.
“I didn’t really have a lot of time to prepare for a three-game weekend,” Krusel said. “I was hopeful of getting six points, but I was happy with four. I think the players were really quite co-operative and enthused.”
Petit’s hat trick, along with two goals each by Bergmann and Wallan, led the team against Ponoka. Bergmann and Wallan accounted for two more goals each against Rimbey, with Mitch Duncan and Sam Yetman each scoring singles.
Alex Diduch and Petit tallied against Blackfalds.
“Ponoka is a much-improved team and I thought Rimbey, for having not won a game, played really hard and the scoreboard wasn’t indicative. Give them some credit, they hung in there and made a game of it,” Krusel said.
“Blackfalds are tough to beat in their own building, but we had some chances we didn’t cash in on. I thought we played really well and with 10 minutes left in the third it was 3-2, with both teams playing pretty even until we got into penalty trouble. To give a team a five-on-three late in the game like that was kind of over the top, but I was really happy with the way the team played. The team definitely deserved a better fate.”
Airdrie went 1/5 on the power play against the Stampeders, 2/6 against Rimbey and 0/6 against the Wranglers. The bench boss, who took over after the surprise resignation of former coach Darryl Einarson, said he plans to work on a few new systems this week.
“The team isn’t used to me yet and there’s definitely some things I’m going to work on to counter some of the things we weren’t doing or allowed the other team to do to us,” Krusel said. “I’m confident we’ll get the team functioning the way it should. Everything is moving along quite well.”
The Thunder (18W-8L) will play a home-and-home series with the Banff Academy Bears this weekend. Airdrie will host Jan. 21 (at 8 p.m. at the Ron Ebbesen Arena), before travelling to Banff on Jan. 23.
“Banff is a difficult team to play in their own rink and the Sunday afternoon games are always a tough ones, but that’s the way it was scheduled so we’ll go up there and compete,” Krusel said.
Generals split
The Cochrane Generals (22W-4L-1T) split a pair of games last weekend, as the team fell 6-4 to the Thrashers in Three Hills on Jan. 14 before responding with a 10-3 home win over the High River Flyers on Jan. 15.
Jonny Pictin had three goals and an assist against the Flyers, with Danny McSween, Kris Keller, Spencer Sobie, Jason Labelle, Mike Matlo, Tyson Soloski and Landon Bergh scoring singles. Netminder Garrett Fraser made 19 saves for the win.
League scoring leader McSween had a hat trick in the losing effort to Three Hills, with Labelle adding a single. Netminder Kenny Quinn made 45 saves.
Cochrane will host the Red Deer Vipers on Jan. 21 and travel to Okotoks to play the Bisons on Jan. 23.
