Tales from the Timebox: November 7th, 2016

Sometimes a short bench is just what the doctor ordered!  The midget Avalanche still looking for their first win of the year, traveled to Provost on Friday night with only two lines and four D Men in the line up. Head coach Gerry Kjenner has been there himself a few times when he played with  the Mustangs and he knew they would have to play a smarter game. Take fewer penalties, don’t be selfish and take yourself out of the play by going after a guy for the big unnecessary hit, and let the puck do the work, in other words,  pass the puck! But trying to get that message across to midget aged boys can be a challenge. But, the Avalanche did just that, and came home with a huge 5 to 1 victory. Maybe they could have taken a few less penalties, but then again they are teen aged boys and still love  to butt heads when the opportunity arises! Brody’ the Big O’ Odgaard opened the scoring with his first of his two goals with one of his famous  ‘ Big O’ wrap around, then ‘ Captain Obvious’ Austin Stafford leading by example again this week with a goal. Little spark plug Nick ‘ Sparky’ Anderson lighting up the red lamp, right winger Chase’ Rink Rat’ Dorey with a goal and one assist, Heinsberg product Kyle Kjenner with two assists, the rushing defenseman Hayden ‘ Hot wheels ‘ Ludlage and speedy back checker Chad ‘ Pickpocket’ Poitras  each with an assist. Goalie Shayne ‘ Hercules ‘ Hurtubise was very sharp in this one, closing the door on Provost.

Things were really started to boil over in Boyle when the bantam boys travelled  there this past Saturday afternoon . A good portion of the this years bantam team played  in peewee last year and faced Boyle not only in the league playoffs for the North East Banner but also in the provincials for the Zone 2 title, the Avalanche winning the league and the zone.  Boyle was the provincial host. This year the boys are battling again with their old friends and its starting to look a lot like the teams may be deadlocked again. In fact, the boys were very lucky to end up in a tie Saturday game, after the coaching staff of Greg Van Maarion, Marty Bendixen , and Tyson Stafford, called a time out with a minute left to pull the goalie and add another attacker. The plan worked, ‘ Lightning Liam ‘ Ludlage scoring his second of the game with only one second on the clock to tie it up.  Two goals for ‘Lightning Liam’ Ludlage including the tying goal, Jaden ‘ Jetstream’ Van Maarion with a goal and two assists, Dallas’ Cowboy’ Bristow and Charlie’ the Angel’ Rogal with a goal each, ‘ Hank the Tank’ Rogal, ‘ King Cole’ Bendixen and ‘ Raging Paige’ Henderson all on the score sheet with assists. Goalie ‘ Colt 45’ Colton Van Maarion between the pipes in this one was solid as usual .  Silent Sam Henderson may be a quiet one, but some times silent is deadly and the pop valve was not be able to hold the pressure built up in this one, he was involved in a roughing  altercation with the Boyle captain and spent an extra 10 minutes in the sin bin. On Sunday the bantams hosted Cold Lake, the game tied three all until two minutes left in the second period when the Avalanche would score two quick ones to end the period, then add another in the third , the final 6 to 3 for the Avalanche. The ‘ Angel ‘ with a hat trick, ‘ King Cole’ , ‘Silent Sam’ and the ‘ Cowboy ‘ scoring. ‘ Lightning Liam’ with three assists, ‘ Jet Stream with two assists, D Men Evan ‘ Batman’ Ockerman and Jace’ the Stafford Streak’  each with a helper. A great game for  D Men, ‘ the Streak’, ‘Batman’, Hank the Tank, and Raging Paige who all played a solid physical game.

Bombs away! Cold Lake weapons range is just down the road and they pulled out all its heavy artillery on Saturday morning against goalie Vanden ‘ Super Mario’ Moroziuk.  He was getting pounded  with a steady bombardment of rubber on Saturday morning , This team has only two lines when everyone is healthy, but it wasn’t very long before two men went down and they only  had  8 skaters in the line up by the end of the game. Defenseman CeaJay Quinney getting the heart and hustle award in this one for his solid effort. Kobe ‘ the Cobra’ Warawa scoring the first goal for the Avalanche, ‘ Mic Jager’ Fontaine adding 6 others, Landon’ the Magnificant’ Malachowski with three assists, Josef’ Red’ Theriault also with an assist. On Sunday the peewee team brought up two rookies from the Atom farm team ‘St Nick’ Penner and ‘ Kid Kade’ Fontaine getting the call to help out the  peewee team, who were missing some of their regular players, They traveled to Saddle Lake to take on the Warriors in another tough game for ‘ Super Mario’ who faced another 71 shots in a 10 to 4 losing battle. A hat trick for ‘ Mic Jager’ , the Cobra ‘ getting the other one. Great effort once  again by defenseman CeaJay Quinney, also by the big power forward Brady ‘ the Bionic Man’ Hymanyk,  ‘ Wild Wyatt’ Pavoll and rugged defenseman ‘Dean the Machine’ Ockerman

Every year  in January our teams are crying for ice times to play provincial and playoff games, but that was not the case this past Saturday. Only one home game scheduled on Saturday at the AGR, by the high flying undefeated Atom Avalanche who really took it to the visiting Mallaig. The final a 11 to 0 win over  Mallaig, who had entered into the tier one of the North East league, but will most likely drop down to tier two after meeting our guys. Four goals for ‘ King Kong Konnor’ Poitras, a hat trick for  Phoenix Quinney-Canning, seeing the ice really well, defenseman Cash ‘ CC’ Capjack  with two goals and setting up six others, Vaughn ‘ the Vulture’ Ockerman and Ryan ‘ Ram Rod’ Cameron with one goal each.  Three assists for ‘ St. Nic’ Penner,  ‘ Timmy Joe’ Cardinal, ‘Cyclone Cole’ Pierce, ‘Bo Diddley’ Fontaine, Kaleb’ Formula One’ Flamand and Brendon Haesch Baker each with an assist, And a big  happy birthday today going out to the Atom team manager Melissa Rogal, mother of the Spiderman, the Angel and the Tank.

It was the first game behind the bench for head coach Jeff Morton after breaking his leg right at the start of the season and his team responded giving old ” Hop Along’  a happy return, winning in St. Paul 7 to 4. Madden ‘ Mad Dog ‘ Flamand with a hat trick, ” Hurricane Kayl’ Warawa with two goals, Sebastian Brosseau with one, and the first ever goal for Ella Ballas. Her brother ‘ Notorious Nolan’ , Raif ‘ Rug Rat’ Evans Anderson, Boe Johnson , ‘Hurricane Kayl’ and Spencer Malachowski all with assists. And this was Spencer first ever point.

Talking about firsts…..I wonder who gets more excited about playing in  their  first hockey game every, the parents, grandparents, or the kids? I expect it’s not the kids although  I do know they all like  the treats after the game, It was the first game ever for Jackson Rawlake, Theo Loughran, and Jonathan McAleese who played in St Paul on Saturday morning. Lennox St. Arnault who is also playing in his first year on this team didn’t suit up this weekend. Second year veteran Wyatt Earp’ Fontaine with a hat trick.

The novice 1B team played at home on Sunday with ‘ Good Time Charlie’ Lesyk behind the mask in net winning 10 to 1 over Mallaig. Brother Baylee ‘B J’ Lesyk with a hat trick, Evett ‘ Snoopy ‘ Smereka with two, Miles Koren, Kale Ockerman, Brendan  Kadutski, Kaysen DeMoissac  and Riley ‘ Coyote’ Bourne  all with  one goal each, Charlotte and Anna Henderson getting in on the assists. And now for the K.A. Campbell quote of the week. ‘ How would you like a job where every time you make a mistake a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo? ‘