All season long, the Airdrie Xtreme had problems holding onto third period leads.
In a short, best-of-three, playoff series, it sealed the team’s fate.
The Bantam AAA hockey team’s season ended abruptly last weekend as it dropped two straight contests to the Red Deer Rebels Black – a 5-4 lose in Airdrie, Feb. 17, and a 4-3 loss in Red Deer, Feb. 19.
“It was a disappointing finish, that’s for sure,” said Xtreme head coach Terry Keogh. “There was a lot of upset young men and, right through, we were all very upset. I’m sure there was a bit of disbelief, as you spend the whole season getting ready for a playoff run to Westerns and then basically inside of three days, it’s all over with.”
Jake Dube, Tyler Wong, Colby Chartier and Connor Boyd all scored to put Airdrie ahead 4-1 in the opening game, but they couldn’t hold the lead in the third period and eventually lost in overtime. The game was also riddled with 20 minor penalties, causing Keogh problems with line chemistry.
“Whenever there are a lot of penalties in the game, it really interrupts the flow,” he said. “We didn’t play well Thursday night, whether it was nerves, overconfidence or what, I’m not really sure.”
Netminder Christian Fitzgerald made 29 saves in the loss.
Chartier scored twice and Boyd added another, while Fitzgerald made 33 saves in net in the game two loss.
“On Saturday, we played a lot better and took the game to them for the most part, but missed on too many opportunities,” Keogh said. “We definitely created enough opportunities to win the game, but unfortunately their goalie came up with some big saves and we weren’t capitalizing – in a short series these things happen.
“We came out strong and it was quite obvious from the start that we were skating a lot better. We never gave up right through to the end, so we weren’t deflated or anything and we had chances to win that game. They definitely stepped up their play, there’s no question about that. It was the best that we had seen them all season. But they weren’t doing anything special. We just didn’t get to the level we needed to, to beat them.”
The Xtreme will now take a week off, before returning to practice, and several potential exhibition games, in preparation for the Kamloops International Bantam Ice Hockey Tournament (KIBIHT) during the first week of April.
“Basically it’s the equivalent of the Midget Mac’s Tournament for Bantams,” Keogh said.
“It’s also a kind of consolation (for the graduating players) and one more opportunity, in addition to the Alberta Cup, to showcase their talents and hopefully climb up the ladder in any potential draft situations.”
The Red Deer Rebels Black will now take on the Red Deer Rebels White in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League’s Ram South Division Final, after the Rebels White beat the Lethbridge Golden Hawks in two straight games.
