Braves snap winless streak with back to back victories

By Brady Grove, Times Reporter

The peewee AA Wheatland Braves ended a five-game winless streak that stretched back to Oct. 19 with two big wins last weekend. They beat the Foothills Bisons at home 5-3 on Nov. 23 and then crushed the Okotoks Oilers Green 7-1 in Okotoks on Nov. 24.
In the Bisons game, the Braves scored in the first two minutes of both the first and second period and had a commanding 4-1 lead. They were peppering the opposition with shots and led 21-10 in that category. Early in the third, however, the Bisons scored a power play and a shorthanded goal to cut the deficit to single goal.
The Braves gained some breathing room late in the third with a low sizzling point shot from Braves defender Nathan Maloney, which was initially stopped by Bisons goaltender Cash Barton. But the rebound landed on the hungry stick of Braves forward Nash Wassing who hammered it in for his second of the game.
“In the first five minutes (first and second period) we dominated and then the effort went south,” said Braves assistant coach Slavo Halkovic. “We have to try to establish a 60 minutes effort every game.”
The Braves responded to their coach’s demand for a stronger effort the next day against the Oilers. Wassing led the way with three points with Dylan Serginson scoring two goals and Jordan Hendricks, Luc Trevors and Conner Radke all finding the back of the net once for the Braves. Connor White made 25 saves in the victory.
The club now owns a 8-4-2 record and sits in fourth place in the south conference. They will get a chance to tie the second-place Taber Golden Suns on Nov. 30 in Hussar.

Chiefs split road trip
The midget AA Wheatland Chiefs won a hard fought back and forth game 4-3 against the Taber Golden Suns on Nov. 24. The teams traded goals until the third period when the Chiefs gained the upper hand with under 10 minutes remaining. Chiefs forward Tyren Grimsdale potted the game winner from Nolan Bailey.
The Chiefs won the game by committee with four separate goal scorers and five different passers. Chiefs goalie Drew Dovichak made 18 saves to help his team get the two points in the standings.
The Chiefs were back on the ice less than 24 hours later and played another tight game against the NWCAA Bruins, ultimately losing 4-2 at the Max Bell Centre in Calgary on Nov. 25.
Grimsdale scored again and Chiefs defenseman Mitch Desserre scored his fourth of the season for the Chiefs. Landon Brassard was busy in the net for the Chiefs and made 33 saves in the loss.
The midget AAs are currently 5-8-2 and sit in fourth place in the south conference. The team has a chance to pick up some points in the standings with back to back games this weekend taking on the third place Medicine Hat Hounds on Dec. 1 in Hussar before returning to Strathmore to play the second place Okotoks Oilers on Dec. 2 at 4:15 p.m.

Warriors look to continue winning ways
The bantam AA Wheatland Warriors had a weekend of rest and will put their seven-game winning streak on the line against the Foothills Bisons on Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the Strathmore Family Centre. The Warriors are tied for first with 21 points with the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the south conference.