Storm teams have great runs

Justin Seward

Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore Storm bantam Tier 2 female team had a Cinderella season, going 23-0-2 in the regular season, en route to winning the league banner and earning a provincial berth after beating Brooks in play-downs.
At provincials in Hinton last weekend, the girls won their pool with a 3-0-1 record before having the only blemish on their season in a semi final loss to Lloydminster, in a game that head coach Clay Armstrong said was an excellent game.
Despite being hit by the flubug and sustaining a couple of injuries, the girls stuck it out in the final two games.
“They played the best hockey that I’d ever seen them play,” said Armstrong.
“They really gutted it out and I was extremely proud of them. We were fortunate in the draw in the teams that lined up against us. They got tougher as we went which was lucky for us because the long travel time allowed us to get into the speed of the game and two toughest teams we faced were the last two games we played. Our team had an excessive amount of heart, determination and were such a complete team.”
He had mentioned that this group of girls were able to gel early on in the season; the most difficulty they had was staying motivated throughout season but were able to do so to keep a strong record.
Meanwhile, the Storm bantam A team fell just short of making the playoff round at provincials in Beaumont from March 17 to 20. The team finished with a 2-1-1 record, missing the semi finals after tying Calgary 3-3 in their last round robin, when they needed a win to advance.
They would open up the tournament with a 4-3 win over Sherwood Park and a 6-0 victory over Red Deer on March 18, before losing to Fort Saskatchewan 7-3 on March 19.