Braves draw Airdrie

Times Reporter   

 

Finishing off their season with two wins, the Wheatland peewee Braves placed fourth with a 15-13-3 record. This means the Braves will have home ice advantage against the fifth place Airdie Lightning for the first round in the playoffs; however, the Braves have yet to win against Airdrie this season, having lost 3-1 on Sept. 21, and tied 3-3 on Dec. 22.

“I think Airdrie’s going to be a challenge,” Braves coach Keith Klemmensen said. “They’re a good team to play against. So far, they’ve been better than us.”

In their last two matchups of the season, the Braves defeated the Lacombe Rockets on Feb. 15 by a score of 6-2, and also trounced Red Deer the next day, 6-1.

“The first period we had against TBS up in Red Deer, was probably as good a period of hockey that I’ve had from a peewee team. That was outstanding,” Klemmensen said. “We were completely doing everything right – the defense was moving the puck at the right time, everyone was supporting, giving an option to the puck carrier.”

Against the Rockets, though the score was tied 2-2 in the third, the Braves had a four goal effort in the last seven minutes of play. Hassan Akl, Kyle Crnkovic, Cole Berg and Calvin Vergouwen had two points each. In the matchup against Red Deer Mohammed Hakim had a goal and an assist, as did Tarun Fizer. Kyle Crnkovic finished with two goals and a helper, and Majid Kaddoura assisted on two markers as well.

“I really felt like they were very mature in the dressing room,” Klemmensen said. “It was ‘we have to go out and do this and do a good job of it.’”

 

Bye for first

The Wheatland Warriors were led by Cole Clayton on Feb. 14 against the Airdrie Lightning, as he scored both goals in the 2-1 win. Feb. 16 against the Southwest Rockies, Joel Krahenbil had two goals, and Ryan Bell had two helpers, but the Warriors finished their season with a 3-3 tie. They receive a bye to the second round, by finishing first with a 26-4-3 record.

 

Chiefs to face Lacombe or Red Deer

They finished their season with a 4-3 loss to the Foothills Bisons on Feb. 15, and now the Wheatland Chiefs will finish fourth or third in the standings – dependent on other teams’ games. Wheatland was down 4-1 with a goal from Kyle Rosolowski, and almost tied it in the third with efforts from Mckay Bray and Quinton Peplinski, but fell short.

If the Chiefs place third they will play the sixth Red Deer Elks, but if they place fourth, they will face fifth place Lacombe.

Their record for the year was 17-14-2.