Junior B Heat win Hard Fought Game Over Lloydminster

The Lakeland Junior B Heat faced Lloydminster on June 17. With the season winding down every point against a division rival is critical. The Junior B Heat fought off the Xtreme for a 9-8 victory. This is the Cave Inspections Post Game Report.

Big first period for both clubs

Cole Kulczycki started things with a bang for the Heat as he netted a big opening goal less than a minute in. The Heat looked to be settled in until Austin Burkart evened the game for the Xtreme. The Xtreme took the lead for a small period of time in the first ten minutes. Blake Smith leveled the game at 2’s a minute after the Xtreme had taken the lead. The Heat finished the first half of the period strong scoring two goals just seconds apart. Jaedyn Stratychuk scored the Heat’s fifth goal, and gave them a 5-2 lead with only seven minutes to go. Lloydminster responded with three straight goals, the last one coming with only 1:47 to go in the period. With the game even at 5-5,  Donovan Bibeau managed to score a last second goal with only 12.5 seconds on the clock.

Xtreme fight back

Lloydminster put Lakeland’s feet to the fire in the second. The Heat managed to expand their lead in the second period. Justin Hodinsky scored the only goal in the period for the Heat. Jaden Bouvier scored twice in the period for the Xtreme. The game was tied at 7-7 headed into the third period.

Junior B Heat go down to the wire

The Lloydminster Xtreme took the lead with 14:39 with Austin Burkart netting the go ahead goal. The Junior B Heat re-grouped, and fought back to tie it once again on a huge goal by Issac Brown. Five minutes of play passed in the third period with the game tied. Seconds more than seven minutes to go, Issac Brown scored the tie-breaker. Brown finished the night with two goals, and an assist.

Team play was key

The Heat won the game 9-8 in nail-biting fashion. The big story was a bit of a breakdown in team play in the middle going of the game, but the team coming back together to finish it off.

“We come out really strong, and then got away from team a little bit. We kinda broke down on defense a little bit, letting our guys go, and giving up too many shots and that kind of hurt us. Everyone was still working hard.” Head Coach Dennis Hodinsky said, “Issac Brown got our MVP. He was always looking for guys. He had a really good game.”

The Junior B Heat are back in action today in Ardrossan when they face the Sherwood Park Titans. The Heat lost in overtime the last time the two teams met.