I’ve purposely not listened to AC/DC’s Thunderstruck all summer long.
Great song on a great album, don’t get me wrong, but I heard it enough all winter at Airdrie Thunder games that it has lost some of its lustre.
It doesn’t help that Freaky Friday 6 or Face/Off 3 or The Change-Up, or whatever it’s called, has been using it with its trailers. Real original.
Anyways, I’m looking forward to hearing it played in a contextual form – at the Ron Ebbesen Arena – when the Thunder take to the ice, score a goal, kill a penalty, refill the water bottles, show up to the rink, sharpen their skates and practice – and a few more times I’m probably forgetting.
Starting with last weekend’s three-on-three conditioning tournament, this will be my second year covering the Airdrie Thunder and the Heritage Junior Hockey League. Last season may not have been the team’s best overall season, but it definitely provided a sportswriter with plenty of fodder.
Starting the season with a nine-game winning streak brought all sorts of early accolades upon then-head coach Darryl Einarson. But before you knew it, top scorer Andrew Bergmann took off to a Junior A team in Manitoba, the team started losing and Einarson resigned.
It was a classic tale of two teams.
Enter new head coach Art Krusel into the picture. The team rebounds, Bergmann returns and all is well. Then Krusel received some unfortunate health news and was forced to diminish his role.
Assistant coach Gareth Barley then became the interim head coach, the team’s third in three months, heading into the playoffs. And, despite Barley and the Thunder’s best effort, they dropped its first-round series to the Three Hills Thrashers in the deciding fifth game.
It was an unusual season to say the least.
Now on the verge of the 2011-12 season, the Thunder is looking to re-capture some of its former glory. Krusel will return as the bench boss and around 16 players from last year’s team could be back.
The Cochrane Generals, Airdrie’s main rival, will be in a different division this season as well, as the HJHL has dropped the Rimbey Rock, eliminated the Central Divison and re-aligned to just two divisions.
I’m not sure what the playoff format will be yet, but it can’t possibly be worse than the system the HJHL had in place last year.
When you allow teams a second chance to advance in the playoffs, you’re essentially eliminating the proper use of the term playoff. Not to mention rewarding failure – one of my biggest pet peeves in sports. I’m looking at you CFL with your point on a missed field goal, and you curling with your Page playoff system. They aren’t unique quirks to a sport – they’re downright dumb.
The people who came up with those ideas need to be Thunderstruck.
