The Airdrie Lightning U15 AA boy's hockey team is preparing for provincials, after taking home the South Central Alberta Hockey League (SCAHL) banner on March 12.
After winning the north division playoffs the week prior, the Lightning kept the momentum rolling by sweeping the south division-winning Taber Golden Suns in the teams' best-of-three series to clinch the league championship.
Airdrie won the first game at the Ron Ebbesen Arena 6-5 on March 11, and followed up with a 6-5 overtime victory in Taber the following day.
The Lightning overcame a 3-1 deficit in the third period on Saturday to tie the game 5-5, before Ashton Allan sniped the winning goal for Airdrie in overtime.
The circumstances were similar to the Lightning's north division championship game on March 6, when they overcame a 2-0 deficit after two periods to win 5-3. Head coach Cale Larson said the Lightning players didn't let their heads drop after going down by two goals.
“The boys seem to have a lot of confidence in the third period that they can finish games well,” Larson said. “We were still feeling good going into the third, even down 3-1. We had a rough second period but in the first period, I thought we played really well.”
As a result of their SCAHL banner, the Lightning will represent the league at the Alberta U15 AA provincial championships, which get underway March 24 in Beaumont. Larson said there will be five teams vying for the provincial title, including the U15 AA city champions from Edmonton and Calgary, the host team from Beaumont, and the north champions.
Larson added Airdrie's players are eager to see how they fare at provincials, considering many of them have not competed at that level before.
“They're super excited,” he said. “The confidence is really high within the team right now, so if we feel like we play our game, we can compete with anybody in the province.”
Xtreme advance
Airdrie's U15 AAA boys' hockey team is moving onto the next round of the Alberta Elite Hockey League (AEHL) playoffs, after sweeping the Lethbridge Golden Hawks in the second round of the post-season.
Airdrie blanked Lethbridge 6-0 on March 9 and then clinched the series on March 11 with a 4-2 win in Lethbridge.
The Xtreme will now take on the Calgary Bisons in a best-of-three series to see who advances to the AEHL U15 AAA South Division finals. Game one is set to get underway on March 16 at the Ron Ebbesen Arena in Airdrie at 7:45 p.m., while game two will be in Calgary on March 19 at 3:30 p.m.
Game three, if needed, will be back in Airdrie on March 20 at 1:30 p.m.
Lightning U18 season ends
The top team in the division proved too much for the Airdrie Lightning U18 AA girls' hockey team to overcome.
The Lightning saw their playoff run come to a close on March 12, after the squad fell 7-2 and 4-2 to the Calgary Fire White, in their best-of-three, second-round series.
The Fire White were the top-seeded team in the Alberta Female Hockey League's U18 AA south division throughout the regular season, boasting a 19-7 record that included two shootout defeats.
The Lightning U18 AA boys' hockey team's season also came to a close over the March 12-13 weekend. Sporting an injury-ravaged line-up, the Lightning went 1-3 at the SCAHL U18 AA playoffs in Sylvan Lake, beating the Olds Grizzlys in their first game of the tournament but losing twice to the Bow Valley Timberwolves and also falling to the West Central Tigers.
