The Airdrie Xtreme officially clinched a spot in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League (AMBHL) playoffs with a 7-4 win over the Lethbridge Golden Hawks at the Ron Ebbesen Arena, Jan. 29.
The victory places Airdrie into second place in the AMBHL’s Ram South division with 27 points, and mathematically eliminated the Red Deer Rebels Black, which sits in fifth with 15 points. Each team has four games remaining.
“We’re in the playoffs, but we want to stay in second place,” said Xtreme head coach Terry Keogh. “We’ll be in a dogfight to the end trying to hold onto that second-place spot. Every two points is extremely important from this point on.”
Zach Giroux and Ryley Smith each had two goals to lead Airdrie past Lethbridge, while Adamu Tanaka, Chad Harrison and Austin Cameron added singles. Netminder Ryan Ternes made 30 saves for the win.
“He did a great job for us,” Keogh said of Ternes. “We’re trying to stress to the guys to keep the shots to the outside and make sure to give him room to see.”
Airdrie opened up a two-goal lead less than 12 minutes into the first period, on a five-on-three power play wrist shot by Tanaka and a partial breakaway by Smith, but the Golden Hawks responded with two late power-play goals.
Second period goals by Smith, his second of the game, Harrison, on the penalty kill, and Giroux’s second, the ultimate game-winner, put the Xtreme ahead for good.
“They executed their power play very well,” Keogh said. “We’re typically aggressive on the penalty kill, and they started to expose that, so we had to change it up. Our power play is getting better, but it’s still not near where it needs to be. We need to work on that in the last four games and practices, because, in the playoffs, specialty teams will be huge.”
Lethbridge would add two more power play goals in the third, but late markers by Giroux and Cameron created insurance for Airdrie.
“I’m proud of the character,” Keogh said. “Throughout the year, we’ve battled with ups and downs; today, we were up 2-0 on a high, then they scored two power-play goals against us. It’s something we’ve been dealing with all season. But we kept plugging away, pushing and pushing, and came out on the right end today.”
Airdrie’s last four regular season games will all be on the road. Its next two will be against division-leading Medicine Hat, Feb. 4 and at the Calgary Bisons, Feb. 5.
“It’s always tough, as we tend to play better at home,” Keogh said.
“We just try to stay focused, bring the team together and get a good 60 minutes out of them. If we can keep the confidence, and keep building the confidence, and not the let the little mishaps control our play, then hopefully we’ll be successful.”
