The Airdrie Thunder is still searching for the perfect weekend.
The Junior B team split a pair of weekend games, falling 3-2 on the road to the Mountainview Colts, Jan. 30, after defeating the Strathmore Wheatland Kings 5-0 at home, Jan. 28.
Travis Wallan had two goals and two assists, and netminder Jeff Gardner made 23 saves for his second shutout of the season, in the victory over the Kings. Shaw Pickett, Alex Hustad and Cache Doolaege each had singles and Taylor Crossley added three assists.
Crossley and Alex Diduch scored against the Colts, while netminder Logan Marlow made 44 saves in the loss.
“We’re doing pretty good in the standings, but we have to do better as a team as we move towards the playoffs,” Wallan said, following the Strathmore win.
“I don’t think it was our best game, but it was far from our worst,” said Thunder head coach Art Krusel. “I thought overall it was a pretty good effort. There was some steps in the right direction and I was happy with the goals against. Anytime you can get a shutout is good, especially for Jeff as I had pulled him in the game in Didsbury (a 7-4 win on Jan. 25) and he wasn’t feeling too good about that. But to come back and get a shutout was big for him.”
“It was a solid defensive game,” Gardner said. “The guys kept most of the shots to the outside and made my job easy tonight. We were just more prepared to play tonight (than last weekend).”
Airdrie opened the scoring against Strathmore when Wallan tapped in a loose puck 11:30 into the first period. He added his second of the night, and 27th of the season, with 59 seconds left in the frame, on a one-timer after Kristian Petit fed him a perfect pass.
“My linemates and I are playing pretty good right now,” Wallan said. “Petit is an unreal skater and (Andrew) Bergmann is just really talented, so it’s fun to play with those guys. I’m pretty happy with it.”
Gardner had to make the majority of his saves early in the middle frame, but was also sharp in the opening period when he was tested.
“It helped get the confidence going and helped for the later shots,” he said.
The Thunder controlled the play for the majority of the second period, but only managed to score 11 minutes in.
“I think we were waiting for the perfect play instead of putting the puck on net,” Krusel said.
Airdrie finally capitalized and extended its lead to three when Pickett finished a passing play from Crossley and Sam Yetman with 8:54 left in the second. Petit had a goal disallowed, due to the net being off, early in the third, before Hustad made it 4-0, 5:57 into the period.
Doolaege would add a power play marker with 3:15 remaining.
“You always want to lower your goals against and good teams just don’t give up many goals,” Krusel said. “You have to be able to play in tight games with the playoffs approaching. We’re not going to catch Cochrane, but Three Hills is right behind us and we definitely want to secure second place. There’s still some things I want to get engrained into their game, but for the most part, I think we’re going in the right direction.”
The Cochrane Generals extended its division lead to six points over Airdrie following an 11-4 home win over the Ponoka Stampeders on Jan. 29. Danny McSween and Jonny Pictin each scored three times, while Tyson Soloski had two and Jason Labelle, Riley Boothby and Kyle Tucker added singles. Netminder Kenny Quinn made 19 saves for the win.
The Rimbey Rock have been suspended from the Heritage Junior Hockey League for the rest of the season after failing to provide a full squad in its scheduled home game against Blackfalds on Jan. 28. The Rock was 0W-26L on the season.
Details on how the move will affect the remaining regular season schedule will be discussed this week.
