Warriors make a statement; cannot solve Sylvan Lake

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

Cody Brown’s Wheatland Warriors bantam club could not have got their game against the Southwest Rockies on Friday night at the Strathmore Family Centre over with fast enough.
The team crushed the lowly Rockies 21-3, but coach Brown admits that there was not much to take out of this game and for his team to focus on preparing for Sylvan Lake on Saturday night in Hussar.
“Tonight it was one of those games, it’s the way it goes, just kind of wanted to get through it and move on to the next game. There’s not a whole lot to take out of a win with that big of a margin,” said Brown.
Jayden Hendricks and Tanner Boutin had four goals each, while Ryan Conroy and Hassan Akl sniped hat tricks. Majid Kaddoura and Tyler Skehar notched two each and to round out the offence, James Farmer, Tarun Fizer and Jordan Hansen added singles.
The Warriors, who had played Sylvan Lake a week prior, had that game fresh in their minds and knew they had to bring their best game to win.
“If we want to go deep playoffs, we can’t be having games like that where you got that lead, you’ve got to be able to gut that one out and finish it off,” said Brown.
“We just want to clear our heads out and go into tomorrow, probably going to be one of the biggest game of our season to date, putting this one behind and show up playing out game.”
On Saturday in Hussar, the local bantam double A, team after a scoreless first period, found themselves down after two 3-0 to the top-ranked Lakers.
Sylvan Lake started the offence with a power play goal at 5:43 of the second from Riley Woytas.
Then late in the frame, Griffen Ryden and Austin Kalev scored back-to-back.
The Warriors conducted a late comeback in the third as Boutin and Fizer notched power play markers but that’s as close as they came.
Next up for the Warriors is when they face off against the Badlands Longhorns (7:30 p.m.) in Hussar on Jan. 16.

 

Braves want full team effort
It is at a point in the season where the whole team should be on board with playoffs approaching.
The Wheatland Braves have a lot of work to do to have all the players being the supporting cast for one another and not just let one player do the work.
“Well the biggest thing is we’re not consistent. We didn’t play the toughest team in the league and there’s still lots of work in front of us because as Keith said we have to urge kids after periods,” said assistant coach Slavo Halkovic. “We’re getting scored on after fundamental mistakes like defensemen not closing the gap and not doing the right thing, but it’s fixable.”
Halkovic saw in the 8-1 win in Airdrie a lot more of a complete effort, compared to the 13-4 win over Red Deer on Sunday night.
Kyle Crnkovic, Mo Hakim, Tristan Zandee, Zach Nicolls, Kyle Bray, Brayden Kapty, Nolan Bailey and Adam Kirkpatrick scored in Airdrie.
“For example, yesterday we saw a real team effort and today (Kyle)Crnkovic was sharing the puck and if you are fast enough to skate with him, good for you, but many of his line mates can’t keep up with him,” said Halkovic.
“So he just goes and gets it done on his own and our goal is that we want everybody to contribute.”
Crnkovic led the way with four goals, Bray supplied three, while Max Kathol had two and Hakim, Kirkpatrick, Bailey and Ethan McKibbin scored one each.
The Braves next games are Jan. 24 in Hussar against the Foothills Bisons (6 p.m.) and Jan. 25 at the Strathmore Family Centre versus the Bow Valley Timberwolves (4:15 p.m.).

 

Chiefs edge Lakers
The Wheatland Chiefs continued their winning streak, as they were able to squeeze by the Sylvan Lake Laker 3-2 on Saturday night in Hussar.
Despite giving the first goal, the local double-A midget team was able to reply with a Jayden Smith power play marker.
Kody Hammond was able to attain the lead for the Chiefs in the third when he went down and scored short-handed.
Smith capped off the win with his second of the game a few minutes later.
The Lakers were able to get a late power play tally, but it was not enough.
The Chiefs will be in Calgary next weekend on Jan. 16 to play the Edge School Mountaineers (5:45 p.m.).