The Airdrie Xtreme had already locked up first place in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League’s Ram South Division heading into last weekend.
That was a good thing, as the team dropped both of its home contests at the Ron Ebbesen Arena – 5-3 to the Calgary Royals on Feb. 12 and 6-5 to the Calgary Northstars on Feb. 13.
The Xtreme has now completed its regular season with a record of 22W-10L-1T and will play the Red Deer Rebels Black in a best-of-three divisional playoff beginning Feb. 17.
“Although all the playoff positions had been decided, and it was a nothing game, you still hope to play a good, strong, consistent effort to get ready for playoffs and we certainly didn’t do that,” said Xtreme head coach Terry Keogh following the loss to the Northstars.
“We got back to too much individual effort, I saw a lot of that today, but we’ll try to put it behind us and get back to what brought us the success we’ve had.”
Airdrie fell behind 2-1 after the first period against the Northstars, but seemed to take momentum after killing off a five-on-three Calgary power play. The visiting club extended its lead to 3-1 moments later, however, as forward Taro Hirose popped in a loose puck past Airdrie netminder Christian Fitzgerald.
Kyle Pauls made it 3-2 at the second intermission, on a top shelf wrist shot, before captain Colby Chartier drew Airdrie even 49 seconds into the third. Calgary then scored twice in 30 seconds a minute later.
“We tried to build momentum at 3-3, but they got couple quick ones,” Keogh said.
Mackenzie Bauer made it 5-4 at the 4:30 mark, but the Xtreme took three straight penalties and was forced to play from behind with a man down for the better part of the third period. Tyler Wong tied the game with 1:34 remaining, but Calgary’s Eric Krienke scored on a lucky rebound with 35 seconds left to propel the Northstars to the win.
Airdrie will begin its playoff quest at home on Feb. 17 against the Red Deer Rebels Black. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.
It will be a best-of-three series, with game two in Red Deer on Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. and game three, if necessary, back in Airdrie at 1 p.m. on Feb. 20. The teams last met on Feb. 5, with the Xtreme dominating an 11-2 win, but Keogh knows that the intensity is different come playoff time.
“The first two series are real quick, so you’ve got to come out flying because if you have one bad game, it could decide the series pretty quick,” he said. “We’ve handled them fairly well throughout the season, but it’s a brand new season and anything can happen. A week from now, our season could basically be over. I expect a good, strong fight out of them and we’ve got to be ready. But if we play the way we can, we should have success.”
