Chiefs blaze out to 3-0 start

Tyler Lowey
Times Reporter

 

The Wheatland Chiefs have unlocked the cheat code for infinite turbo: they grab the puck from their defensive zone and move it up the ice at a blinding rate.
The local double-A team burnt the Taber Golden Suns like a cheap cigar 8-0 Saturday night (Oct. 8) during South Central Association Hockey League (SCAHL) action at the Strathmore Family Centre.
“Playing defence is easy right now,” said 17-year-old defenseman Scott Desserre. “I just make sure to grab the puck and get it up to our forwards and let their speed take over.”
The Chiefs swarmed the Golden Suns at a blistering rate in all three zones. They suffocated their opponent and then capitalized on turnovers.
Ryan Bell ignited the offence on the powerplay when he received a pretty backdoor pass from Desserre, one-timing it home at the 2:26 mark in the first. Tyler Skehar picked up the other assist.
From there, the Chiefs never gave the Suns (0-2-1) a chance.
Seven minutes later, Brady Skiffington chipped the puck from his defensive zone to centre ice where Isaac Benoit chased it down and took it on a breakaway. No stick handling required, as Benoit tucked it between Suns goaltender Broc Merkl’s glove arm and body for his third goal of the season.
This marked the Chiefs second-straight 8-0 thrashing.
“We are off to a pretty nice start, it’s good to see the guys meshing so well,” said Chiefs head coach Evan Barlow. “It’s a great start, but there are still things we need to work on and continue to develop these kids. We still need to do a better job taking care of the puck. We had a few blind, errant passes that put us in tough situations tonight.”
Luckily, whenever the Chiefs were faced with tough situations, their bulletproof goaltender Ty Tarvid was there to shut the door.
Tarvid has not allowed a goal to start the season; that’s 180 minutes of shutout hockey. He has faced 65 shots over the three contests.
“I have been really impressed by Tarvid,” said Barlow. “He hasn’t faced a lot of action, but when he has, he has been sharp. He’s done great with staying in the game and staying focused.”
Second-year forward Chayse Hnatowich buried his first two goals of the season and loves the way his team is rolling early.
“This has been an impressive start for us,” said Hnatowich. “I think it has to do with a lot of our guys coming back after the rough end to last year and that bitter taste in our mouth. We want to come out and be better.”
The Chiefs are trying to bounce back from losing the SCAHL championship game in the final minutes last season.
Wacy Sandum netted a pair for the Chiefs, with remaining goals coming from Riley Romashenko and Kelton Travis. Desserre picked up three assists, while Zachary Suntjens, Robert Butterwick, Ryan McHarg and Kale Clouston added helpers as well.
The Chiefs host a pair of games this weekend at the Strathmore Family Centre. First, the CNHA Canucks (0-0) roll into town on Oct. 15 at 4:45 p.m., and then the Lethbridge Hurricanes (1-1-2) storm into town Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.

 

Braves clipped
Unfortunately, the Wheatland Braves were unable to generate a similar type of offence, as they were clipped 3-2 by the West Central Tigers Oct. 8 at the Strathmore Family Centre.
“We played well in the first eight minutes. The effort and team concept was there, and then we took a few selfish penalties,” said Braves coach Keith Klemmensen. “When you give a well coached team like the Tigers those chances, they are going to take advantage.”
The Braves trailed 3-0 when Tyler Fairbairn took it upon himself to get his team back into the game.
He was rewarded with a penalty shot after being hauled down driving to the net.
“We call him ‘the bulldog’ because he plays with toughness, he works hard and takes pucks to the net,” said Klemmensen.
Like Fairbairn has seen on TV so many times, he skated in, faked the forehand and slid the puck in backhand. It’s a move he picked up from his favourite player Sidney Crosby.
“I knew once I faked, the goalie would go down and then I was able to go around him,” said Fairbairn, who also added another tally in the third on the powerplay.
The Braves (0-5) were outshot 31-21, with Matthew Dovichak recording 28 saves.
“Matthew played well tonight. He worked hard and I appreciated his effort back there,” said Klemmensen.
The Braves host the Olds Grizzlys (4-0) on Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Hussar Arena, and welcome the Red Deer Parkland Transmission (2-1-1) to the Strathmore Family Centre Oct. 16 at 1:30 p.m.

 

Warriors hit with penalties
The penalty box gate might need to be sprayed with some WD40 following the constant parade to the sin bin.
The Airdrie Lightning (3-3) ousted the Wheatland Warriors 4-1 in a game that featured 26 penalties.
“We ran into a bit of an issue in the referee department,” said Warriors head coach Cody Brown.
Of the 10 Warrior infractions, Zach Nicholls picked up a pair of four-minute double minor penalties for hits to the head, Mitch Tessemaker recorded a four-minute hitting-to-the-head penalty and Kobe Gosling racked a 10-minute game misconduct for hitting from behind.
“The ref established early that it was going to be a tightly called game and it was,” said Brown. “Our guys weren’t out there trying to hit these kids in the head.”
Nonetheless, the Warriors (1-4-1) were only able to capitalize once on the powerplay: Nolan Bailey netted the powerplay marker from Matthew Quebec and Jarred Schrock at 3:46 of the third period.
It’s an area of the game that Brown and his staff haven’t spent much time working on at practice.
“It’s still so early, we have overlooked the powerplay aspect and focused on the fundamentals. We will work on it more over the next few weeks,” said Brown.
“It was such a special teams battle; there wasn’t much five-on-five action. It’s tough to see what the game might have been like without the penalties.
The Warriors take on the Okotoks Oilers (3-2-2) Oct. 15 at 5:15 p.m. at Hussar Arena. The Red Deer Steel Kings (0-3-1) stroll into the Strathmore Family Centre the next day, with puck drop is set for 4:15 p.m.