The Airdrie Thunder earned four of a possible six points during a busy Heritage Junior Hockey league weekend, Oct. 7-9.
The team lost 5-2 to the Okotoks Bisons at home on Oct. 7 before winning two road games: 10-2 at the Ponoka Stampeders, Oct. 8, and 6-1 over the Banff Academy Bears on Oct. 9.
“Two wins out of three is not bad and I was happy with that,” said Thunder head coach Art Krusel. “We weren’t ready for Okotoks, didn’t have any jump and were missing a few players.”
Kristian Petit opened the scoring against the Bisons in the first, but Okotoks marked twice in the second and three times in the third. Andrew Bergmann added a late goal for Airdrie.
“They had pretty good speed up front, but they didn’t do anything tricky,” Krusel said.
“We got into some penalty trouble and didn’t get any goals when we needed them. It was an off night, but it’s early in the year so we’re not overly concerned. We can beat them and we’re going to.”
The Thunder’s offence was much improved with the 10 goals in Ponoka the following night.
Captain Travis Wallan had three and Ryan Preston tallied twice, while Bergmann, Mark Rollo, Chase Dobler, Logan Smith and Taylor Crossley all added singles.
Alex Hustad led the 6-1 win over Banff, in the third of three consecutive games, with three goals and two assists Nick Plesa added a goal and Bergmann had another goal, as well as three assists.
“Bergmann is coming into his own after a bit of a slow start,” Krusel said. “He’s a big, fast guy and can make things happen. But this hockey team is going to take awhile to gel. We’ve still got a lot of players coming and going and we need to get some guys healthy.”
The bench boss added that his two top lines – Bergmann, Petit and Wallan on one and Preston, Matt Flette and Daniel Hounjet on the other – have started to make an impact. He expects them to lead the team in its next game – hosting the High River Flyers on Oct. 14.
“They are an improved hockey team and we’re not going to take them lightly,” Krusel said. “They’re quick and I’m sure they’ll play as hard as they can against us.”
Game time is 8 p.m. at the Ron Ebbesen Arena.
