Chiefs staying atop of division; Warriors continue to win
Justin Seward
Times Reporter
The Wheatland Chiefs played three games in a four-night stretch last week and came out with five out of a possible six points.
The local double-A midget team defeated the CNHA Canucks 5-4 on Feb. 10 in Calgary, while getting a 5-3 road win in Taber on Feb. 12, before tying the North Division leading West Central Tigers 4-4 on Feb. 13 in Hussar.
Assistant Coach Keenan Desmet was pretty pleased with how the boys started the game against the Tigers, getting out to a 4-0 lead; however, penalty trouble would cost them late in the contest.
“We kind of got into some penalty issues there in the third period,” said Desmet. “That’s kind of what solved the game to get to a tie. Throughout the whole game we were down to two lines. The guys were pretty tired in the third period and we showed that.”
Ryan Bell, Riley Romashenko, Brad Hendricks and Robert Butterwick scored in the tie.
Desmet said Taber came out hard and got the first goal a couple minutes into the game, and after that the boys were able to weather the storm by pushing back and creating a couple breaks for themselves.
Butterwick had three goals, while Wacy Sandum and Ryan Skytt rounded out the offense with one goal each in Taber.
Romashenko led the attack with two goals, while Butterwick, Bell and Chris Rebeyka also scored against the Canucks.
Desmet feels the team is peaking at the right time with three games left in the season.
“I think everybody that has played in the last few weeks here from top to bottom have all stepped up in certain ways,” said Desmet.
“It’s a good thing to see because we’re coming up to the final tournament here and I think we’re in a pretty good spot. I have nothing but confidence going into the tournament with the team we got.”
The Chiefs will be on the road on Feb. 20 to face Airdrie at 4:45 p.m. before playing their last regular season home game at the Strathmore Family Centre on Feb. 21 versus the Foothills Bisons at 7 p.m.
Currently, the Chiefs are in first place with 43 points, six points clear of Okotoks and 11 points ahead of Taber.
Warriors in a battle
The Wheatland Warriors sit in third place, one point back of both Taber and Cranbrook, but have games in hand, after doubling up on Okotoks 4-2 on Feb. 13 and annihilating the West Central Tiger 11-3 on at the Strathmore Family Centre on Feb. 14.
Assistant Coach Ty Brinton said against a weaker Tigers team it was great to see the boys showcasing their strong skating capabilities and work on not letting bad habits creep into their game.
“We really used that to our advantage,” said Brinton. “Especially when we get teams like that on the big ice, we can really skate them into the ground.”
He mentioned that it was a nice change to see the scoring spread out rather than one line doing all the work, which helped in the team pushing the pace all game.
“It was good to see the boys come in and compete,” said Brinton. “They didn’t take them too lightly, a lot of times in the bantam age group you can take teams for granted that are a lot weaker than you and lower in the standings.”
Cole Berg sniped a hat trick; Brandon Kasdorf and Mo Hakim each added two goals, while Anson McMaster, Max Schafer, Ethan McKibbin and Keith Yellowfly added one each against the Tigers.
Hakim notched two goals, while Kasdorf and Hakim added singles against Okotoks.
The Warriors will hit the ice in Red Deer on Feb. 20 at 2:30 p.m. before hosting the Foothills Bisons at the Strathmore Family Centre at 4:15 p.m. on Feb. 21.
Braves rest
The Wheatland Braves had the weekend off due to the Alberta Winter Games and they will resume play with two home games this weekend where they will face the Foothills Bisons in Hussar on Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. before hosting the Bow Valley Timberwolves at the Strathmore Family Centre on Feb. 21 at 12:45 p.m.