Keep on Truckin’
Tales from the Timebox: January 17th, 2017
And you wonder why coaches seem to be getting grey or going bald? Sometimes after a game the coaches are left scratching their heads wondering ‘ What’s going on? This happened to bantam head coach Greg Van Maarion and his assistants Tyson Stafford and Marty Bendixen.
Last week they were pulling their hair out wondering why they lost two close games that their team was quite capable of winning. Then this Saturday late afternoon at home they took on a stronger Lloydminster team winning 7 to 0. So what inspired the team to turn it on like gang buster? Maybe they finally clued in if they didn’t start winning a few they would miss the playoffs ? If that happened you could be done playing by Family Day. Totally focused Goalie Colton ‘Colt 45’ Van Maarion played outstanding and wasn’t going to give a inch in this one; many times the much bigger Blazers players attacked with gun blazing but he held his ground, shut the door and its hard to say anything more other than that he played terrific. His brother rookie Jaden ‘Jetstream’ Van Maarion was on a one man mission to mars or somewhere, he played terrific too, was streaming down the right wing all night long and getting some wicked shots on net. He scored a hat trick, two of them on the power play, one really nice one timer, plus two assists. Tricky little ‘Lighting Liam’ Ludlage with two goals and setting up two others, ‘King Cole’ Bendixen and Charlie ‘ Angel ‘ Rogal with a goal each, ‘Angel ‘ adding a couple of helpers, D Men Evan ‘ Batman’ Ockerman and ‘Hank the Tank’ with an assist each and tall and slim and handsome’ Silent Sam’ with an assist as well. The steady stay at home ‘ Stafford Streak’ Jace Stafford, is a safety net when everyone else is out on the free range. He stopped a few guys in their right in their tracks on more than one occasion on a breakaway.
What can we say? When your hot your hot ! The midget Avalanche are as hot as a firecracker right now. Three big wins this past weekend. Undefeated in the New Year. In fact it goes back a lot further than I can remember . Confidence is a great thing, but we also don’t what them to get too fat of a head and think they are invincible. But, talk about ‘In- dis- Spencer-able’ .. Goalie Spencer the ‘Fortruss’ Hardcastle has been the lone goalie ever since Shayne ‘Hercules’ Hurtubise broke his ankle last week….and has come through in flying colours. No bad luck for the Avalanche on Friday the 13th winning over Provost 5 to 1 here at home. Two goals, plus two assists and two trips to the sin bin for the ‘Big O’ Brody Odgaard. Chad ‘Pick Pocket’ Poitras, Kyle ‘Ketchup’ Krider, and ‘Wheels’ Christian Castle -Wasson all with a goal each, Bowen ‘Bam Bam’ Krider, Nick ‘Sparky ‘ Anderson, Angus ‘Micky’ McFarlane, and Hayden ‘HotWheels’ Ludlage all with helpers. Always the same story, all guts and no glory… defenseman Cyle ‘Grinder’ Graus is rarely on the game sheet for goals or assists, but week after week, he grinds it out in the trenches like a true trooper on our blue line, getting his nose dirty in the corners and in front of the net.
They say you should never wake up a sleeping giant! On Saturday the midgets took a short road trip to Bonnyville, shortly after lunch time. The boys were still all a little sleepy to start the game and were down 3 to 1 after the first period. After a wake up call in the dressing room by head coach Gerry Kjenner, the Pontiacs were wishing he had left the sleeping giant alone. I’m talking about a real giant of a man, the six foot four player , ‘ the Big O ‘, he responded with four goals, and when he is on a roll he’s impossible to control. One goal by the little slick stick-handling 5’4 ‘Sparky’ who also had three assists. Two talented players with quite the contrast, 6’4 and 5’4. On the score sheet with single goals ‘Hot wheels’, ‘Ketchup’ and team ‘Captain Obvious’ Austin Stafford. ‘ Pick Pocket picking up a couple of assists. ‘Micky ‘ with one assist too. On Sunday the midgets traveled to Kitscoty to play our old rivalry’s, winning once more this one 5 to 3. The ‘ Big O’ with two, one of them into the empty net after the Pit Bulls pulled the goalie trying to tie the game, ‘Wheels’ , Captain Obvious’ and ‘ Hot Wheels’ with one goal each. Two assists for ‘ Ketchup’ This coming week the midget Avalanche host Bonnyville Friday night at 8pm.
The magnificent seven! Seven difference goal scorers for the novice 1 B team who hosted Kikino on Saturday morning and became victorious winning 7 to 2. The Avalanche didn’t start out too strong, goalie ‘ Good Time Charlie’ Lesyk keeping them in the game , he had a lot of break- away’s to deal with and stopped a ton of rubber. He’s pretty darn good at handling the pressure. Goals by Kaysen ‘Dynamite’ DeMoissac, Miles ‘Millions’ Koren, Evett ‘ Snoopy’ Smereka, Brendan ‘Buzz’ Kadutski, Braylee ‘BJ’ Lesyk, Kale ‘the Hawk’ Ockerman, and Riley ‘Coyote’ Bourne. Assists by the sister act Charlotte ‘Cho-Cho’ and Anna ‘ the Banana’ Henderson. On Sunday they traveled to Marwayne winning quite easily 7 to 1. ‘ Snoopy ‘ with a hat trick, ‘ Millions’ scoring two, ‘ Dynamite’ , the ‘ Banana’ and ‘ BJ’ with one each.
Friday night was quite alright for the Atom Avalanche who traveled to Marwayne to play a true tier one team that head coach James Capjack knew could be trouble and would be a tough one to compete with. This was an exhibition game, but a great way for a little tune up before provincials . Down 6 to 4 after forty minutes the boys would really rally in the third and come home happy with a 7 all tie. 5 goals for the high flying ‘King Kong Konnor’ Poitras, Cash ‘CC’ Capjack cashing in two. Assists for Ryan ‘ Ram Rod’ Cameron and Phoenix ‘ Power’ Quinney-Canning.
On Sunday at home against Cold Lake, the competition wasn’t quite as tough but still not a push over by any means, the game was very close for most of it , the Avalanche winning 4 to 1 . Two goals for ‘King Kong Konnor’ Vaughn ‘ the Vulture’ Ockerman and ‘CC’ with one each. ‘ Top Gunner’ Crawford, Kaleb’ Formula One’ Flamand, ‘ Power’ and Brendon ‘ Blue Line’ Haesch Baker with assists.
Put the hammer down! ‘That’s a big ten – four good buddy!’ The novice 1 A team traveled to St. Paul on Saturday winning 10 to 4. Pedal to the medal for Madden ‘Mad Dog’ Flamand scoring a hat trick in the first period, all of them unassisted, ‘Without a Trace’ Morgan with a hat trick as well, his took the whole game, in fact he just beat the buzzer, scoring his final goal with 7 seconds left on the clock. ‘Notorious Nolan’ Ballas, his sister ‘Stellar Ella’, ‘Hurricane Kayl’ Warawa, ‘Super-Spencer’ Malachowski all with one goal each, Raif ‘Rug Rat’ Evans Anderson assisting, Behind the mask Sebastien ‘Bruce’ Brousseau had a great game in net keeping the puck out.
One of the best efforts all year by the peewee Avalanche who lost to St. Paul by a close 5 to 4 on Friday night. The entire team played great. Josef ‘Big Red’ Theriault scoring his first goal of the year winning the heart and hustle, ‘ Mic Jagger’ Fontaine with a hat trick, Landon ‘the Magnificent’ Malchowski with two assist , Odin ‘the Wall’ Smith with an assist, team captain Kobe’ the Cobra’ Warawa was flying, power forwards Brady ‘Bionic Man’ Hymanyk and ‘Bazooka Joey’ Cardinal played great. Vanden ‘ Super Mario’ Moroziuk was pulled in the final minute for the extra attacker the Avalanche coming close to tying it up. Sunday the peewee traveled to Saddle Lake, the outcome wasn’t as great but still a good effort by all. ‘ Mic Jagger’ with six goals and two assists, ‘ Magnificient’ and the ‘ Cobra’ with a goal and an assist each. The ‘ Wall’, ‘Big Red’ and Dean ‘ the Machine’ Ockerman all with assists.
And now for the K. A. Campbell quote of the week.’ We all know hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death. Life is just a place where we spend time between games. ‘ -Fred Shero
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