The Airdrie Xtreme pared down its Bantam AAA roster from an initial 80 players to 28 following its annual Tie Dye game, Sept. 6.
The top 30 skaters and six goalies were split into two teams for the Tie Dye game, where players wore the team’s original pink and black jerseys, with Tyler Wong’s four goals leading Team Pink to a 6-2 win over Team Black.
Head coach Terry Keogh wasn’t overly thrilled with what he saw out of the teams however, and wants them to be a lot better during this weekend’s exhibition tournament in Calgary.
“The pace of the game dwindled throughout and we weren’t really happy with the second half of the game and the performance of some of the players who are fighting for their hockey season,” he said. “I was disappointed in some of them and they’ve got to step up over the next week or so.”
The coaching staff narrowed the roster to 15 forwards, nine defencemen and four goalies after the game, with four players from last year’s team still remaining: Wong, Connor Boyd, Jake Dube and Kyle Pauls.
Team Pink took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission before Wong’s second goal, a top corner shot from 18 feet out, put them up 3-1 with 10 minutes left in the second. Team Black’s Chris Leclair tapped in a rebound off Dube’s initial shot on the power play two minutes later to close the gap to 3-2.
But it was Wong’s hat-trick goal, on a lovely give-and-go with Levi Barker, with four minutes left in the second that put the game away.
“I have many things to work on, but I’m happy with how I did today,” Wong said. “Last year, I was pretty out of shape during training camp, but I feel better this year and feel I have better puck skills than I used to.”
“I’m very pleased with what we’re seeing from Tyler,” Keogh said. “He’s definitely a very talented young man and certainly showed the evidence that he’s got the capability of being a true leader of this hockey club.”
“Last year was sort of eye-opening because it was a lot harder with the bigger players and they were a lot faster,” Wong said. “But I got used to it about halfway through. Now I can prepare myself differently and be ready for the season. I think I should be one of the bigger leaders on this team and I want to be the top forward for sure.”
Team Pink took a 5-2 lead into the third, which then turned into more of a defensive battle. But it wasn’t planned out that way.
“We started last Monday night with conditioning camp, so this is eight days in a row that they’ve been on the ice, and Saturday they all played two games, so they’re getting tired,” Keogh said.
“That certainly showed in the pace of the game. The game started off really well and it was obvious some of the players were out to show us their stuff. But it gives us some challenges and our job from here on in is to get to know the players left and find out what they’re made of.”
The Xtreme will play in an exhibition tournament this weekend in Calgary, before finalizing its roster in advance of its Sept. 18 season opener against the Okotoks Oilers.
