The Airdrie Xtreme had an off weekend from Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League (AMBHL) action.
But the team was still busy, as they tied for third place at the Red Deer Rebels Invitational tournament, held during Thanksgiving weekend Oct. 8-10. The Xtreme dropped a 4-3 shootout decision to the Calgary Bisons during the semifinal on Oct. 10, with no third place game played.
Head coach Terry Keogh said he hopes the team, with its 3W-3L-1T league record thus far, can take some momentum from the placing and translate it into better performances during AMBHL games.
“Coming in, we had two or three games where we weren’t playing at our capabilities,” he said. “We changed some things up that seemed to work, so hopefully we can start moving forward. We played full 60-minute games and dominated most of our games.”
Airdrie tied Grande Prairie 3-3 in its first tournament game, beat a team from Yorkton, Sask. 6-3 in game two, then tied division-rival Red Deer Rebels Black 2-2. This put the Xtreme into second place in its tourney group and set up the Bisons game.
Calgary scored on one of its three shootout opportunities, while Airdrie failed on all three of its attempts.
“We didn’t dominate the Bisons, but we controlled the game,” Keogh said. “We made great progress over the weekend and hopefully we can carry that over into the league season. We saw good improvement from the team as a whole.”
The Xtreme will return to AMBHL play when they host the Calgary Royals on Oct. 15. Game time is 7:15 p.m. at the Ron Ebbesen Arena.
