The Airdrie Thunder only needed 97 seconds to secure two points last week.
With three goals in the final 1:37 of play, the Heritage Junior B team was able to overcome Stettler in an evenly played game and pull out a 6-3 win at the Ron Ebbesen Arena, Feb. 4.
Alex Diduch scored three times, including the clutch game-winner at the 18:23 mark of the third period, while Kristian Petit, Taylor Crossley and Andrew Bergmann added singles. Justin Rockafellow chipped in three assists and netminder Jeff Gardner earned his 12th win of the season.
“I just went into the zone and was in the right place at the right time,” Diduch said of his game-winning goal. “The puck dropped at my stick and I put it upstairs to make sure it went in. I just got lucky tonight, as the pucks were dropping at my feet and the goalie wasn’t there.”
“It was a close game and it really wasn’t decided until Diduch got the go-ahead goal – a very timely goal,” said Thunder head coach Art Krusel. “(Stettler) is a competitive team and they played well. The game was closer than I wanted it to be, but we got the two points.”
The Lightning opened the scoring 10:17 into the first when Brett Wold beat Gardner on his glove side with a wrist shot. Diduch scored his first, from Alex Hustad and Rockafellow, on a fortuitous bounce three minutes later to pull Airdrie even.
Petit made it 2-1 on a top shelf wrister during a Thunder power play at the 16:38 mark of the second, before Stettler’s Cam Wright bounced one off the post and in four minutes later. Crossley put Airdrie up 3-2 at the second intermission after he bounced one in off the leg of a Lightning defenceman.
Stettler tied the game again six minutes into the third, but failed to capitalize on a two-minute five-on-three power play, when Rockafellow and Crossley got called for simultaneous penalties, at the 11:46 mark.
“I was pretty alarmed when we had the five-on-three,” Krusel said. “If there was ever a moment that could have been a turning point in the game, that was it. But our PK guys got it done and that seemed to take the wind out of (Stettler’s) sails, as they were probably expecting to get one there and didn’t.”
“It got the heart racing a bit, but it’s a good thing we have a good penalty kill,” Diduch said. “We came out kind of slow, but we picked it up and finished the game hard to get the W.”
Airdrie took momentum from the penalty kill and Diduch scored his second of the night, on another perfectly-placed rebound, to put Airdrie ahead for good. Bergmann added an empty-netter 30 seconds later and Diduch completed the hat trick with 28 seconds left – also into the empty net.
“Our go-ahead goal was pretty much what we had worked on in practice – on how it was going to take two guys to beat this goalie,” Krusel said. “I told them throughout the game ‘As good as this goalie is, he doesn’t control his rebounds.”
Earning the win in a tight game was an important element as well, Krusel said, as the playoffs will begin the week of Feb. 21.
“The close games are really what prepare you for the playoffs,” he said. “Like I said to them in the room at the end of the game: ‘You found a way to win, which is a really good sign’. Give our guys credit. They worked pretty hard and they’re pretty tired. I also thought Gardner played very well for us. He played a strong game tonight and made a couple of huge saves down the stretch.”
Airdrie’s next two games will include a home match against the Blackfalds Wranglers. Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. at the Ron Ebbesen Arena, followed by a trip to Three Hills on Feb. 12 to play the Thrashers.
“I want to be very prepared for (Blackfalds) and definitely want to win that game. We’ll be looking to get another two points in Three Hills. It’s a huge game worth four points and that game there could virtually decide second place (in the Heritage Junior Hockey League’s Central Division). We’re going to have to be ready.”
With its 5-4 home win over the Three Hills Thrashers on Feb. 5, the Cochrane Generals all but mathematically secured first place in the HJHL’s Central Division.
At 53 points, with four games remaining, Cochrane needs only one point to win the division. If it lost all four and Airdrie, who has 45 points, won all four of its remaining games, there would be a tie-breaker formula. The teams split the four-game season series, but Cochrane has a significant lead in goals for.
Mike Matlo had three goals in the win over the Thrashers, while Riley Boothby and Jonny Pictin added singles. Netminder Kenny Quinn earned the win.
