Ice Collect 4 of 6 Points over Weekend

Cold Lake tied for 5th in the NEAJBHL Standings

The Cold Lake Jr B Ice won two of three games over the weekend to collect four points and tie the Lloydminister Bandits in fifth place in the Northeast Alberta Jr Hockey League (NEAJBHL) standings. The Ice had a comfortable 8-1 win over Vegreville to start the weekend, on Friday. Then met the number one team, the Wainwright Bison on Saturday, falling short 5-4. Then came home to win over Saddle Lake 4-1.

Head Coach for the Ice, Scott Hood, says this is a critical time in the season and the team has to come out with everything to climb those standings.

“We have to take advantage of the slow-paced teams and continue to work hard and play well,” Coach Hood says he was satisfied with the effort put in on Friday. “We were tied after one, then we went in during the intermission and gave the boys a talking to and we were up 6-1 after the second. That’s what we’ve gotta do to move up.”

On Saturday the team faced top team, Wainwright, coach was impressed with the effort put forth against the Bison, “obviously, they’re a top team and they have some skilled players. We were up the whole game and we probably deserved a better outcome.” The Ice were up 2-1 after the first, then 3-2 after the second. The momentum carried into the third where the Ice matched an early Bison goal to make it a 4-3 game half way through the period. The lead didn’t last as the Bison finished the game off with two goals, for a 5-4 final. “It shows the guys we can play with these top teams. We beat Killiam last weekend, they’re in third, and we just gotta keep at it.”

Heading out of Sunday’s 4-1 win, the club was tired, says Hood, “the guys were tired, you could tell. We just didn’t play the way we needed to.” Of course, coach is happy to take a win, but sees room for improvement; especially heading into the post-season. “It’s a W, we got the win. We’re tied for fifth.” Hood says the club will be working on some missing elements from the weekend, during this week’s practice and really driving home the message that you’ve got to work for those wins. “We’ll start fresh Tuesday.”

The Ice practice Tuesday evening at Imperial Oil Place then take on the Frog Lake T-Birds on Wednesday, on the road. The travel continues on Saturday in Lloydminister to take on the Bandits, then the club returns home for a Sunday game against the Vegreville Rangers. Puck drops at 7:00 pm. WIN tickets to the game on LCN!