Braves beaten by Bow Valley

Times Reporter   

 

Flying high after having defeated the Airdrie Lightning in the first round, the Wheatland peewee Braves dropped two straight against the Bow Valley Timberwolves to be eliminated from the playoffs – 7-2 on Feb. 28, and 4-3 on March 1. Both losses were because of third period collapses by Wheatland.

“Going into the third, I think we pretty much had outplayed them. We could just not close the deal for whatever reason,” said Wheatland coach Keith Klemmensen. “A few little things happened, you know. You just have that one shift, where somebody doesn’t work as hard as they can. They’re a good enough team that they take advantage of it. You can’t take a shift off.”

On Feb. 28, the game was tied 2-2 at the end of the second, thanks to goals from Kyle Crnkovic and Majid Kaddoura. Bow Valley then scored five straight goals in the third period.

“We left a lot of goals out there. We had chances to score four or five more goals,” Klemmensen said. “The only thing that’s disappointing is that you can’t close the deal.”

In game two, the Braves had a 3-1 lead from Kyle Bray, Hassan Akl and Tarun Fizer. Crnkovic also had two assists. Again, however, the Timberwolves scored three for the tie and the win in the third, taking the lead with two minutes remaining.

“We got behind in both games, and I give the boys credit. They didn’t quit, they showed some resilience,” Klemmensen said. “Some immaturity here and there, it’s stuff we’ve got to work on. That’s all there is to it.”

The Braves made a strong push in the final part of the season for a playoff spot, but the finish is still disappointing, Klemmensen mentioned.

“I think we finished probably, where I think they belong,” he said. “There were teams that were more consistent. What killed us was inconsistency more than anything – we certainly had some ability and some potential.”

 

Warriors steal series

The bantam Wheatland Warriors will continue on to face the second seeded Okotoks Oilers in the third round of the playoffs. The Warriors received a bye for their first round, and defeated the Red Deer Steel Kings in the second round in two straight games: 5-2 on Mar. 1, and 8-2 on Mar 2.

Tied 2-2 in game one at the end of the second (with goals from Wacy Sandum and Ryan Bell), the Warriors scored three quick ones in the last period, two from Robert Butterwick and one from Joel Krahenbil. Butterwick also had two assists, as did Cole Clayton. Goalie Matthew Schafer only faced 17 shots, while the Warriors pounded on 45.

In game two, Red Deer changed goalies halfway through the matchup, but the Wheatland offense was just too strong. Ryan Bell had two goals on the powerplay – and two assists – while Brady Skiffington also had two helpers. Kyle Merkosky added two goals and an assist in the 8-2 win as well.

The Warriors have yet to beat Okotoks this season, having tied them on Nov. 10 with a score of 5-5, and losing to them two weeks later, 5-1.