Two Wins for the Ice

The Cold Lake Jr B Ice gave the home crowd some love this week with two spectacular wins; against the Onion Lake Border Chiefs and the Vegreville Rangers. The first game had the crowd biting their nails with a 4-3 final, while the second was a blow out, 8-5, win for the Ice.

Game 1 v. Onion Lake

Jonah Henderson with Shane Whitney & Deni Kantel opened up scoring for the Ice, just minutes before the close of the first period. Jean-Guy Boisvert followed close after to give the team a healthy 2-0 lead heading into the second, with an assist to Scott Thackeray. Boisvert says he was happy to add another point to his collection, “I’ve had a few goals this year, I try to help the boys, when I can. I went hard in the corner, the d-man gave Thackeray a walk out. He hit the post and luckily I [was] skating by. I got the puck in the back of the net.”

Onion Lake responded halfway through the second period with back-to-back goals from Tobie Opikokew and an advance from Jayden Cantre, to make it a 3-2 game for the Border Chiefs. Shane Whitney tied things up for the ice, unassisted, and Boisvert secured the go-ahead with the help of Brae Howatt. The third period went 20 minutes with no scoring to close the game at 4-3 win for the Ice.

“It feels nice for the boys to get a win here tonight. Not a great game on our part. But it’s a win.” Head Coach of the Cold Lake Jr B Ice, Scott Hood, explains he doesn’t want to dwell on mistakes, but will address the three unanswered goals by Onion Lake with the team.

Game 2 v. Vergreville

It was Military Appreciation Night at Imperial Oil Place, as the Cold Lake Ice honoured 4-Wing Cold Lake with a big 8-5 win over the Rangers. Jacob Bartman started things off for the Ice at 4:59 in the first with the assist from Coltan Buchta & Kole Greenwood. Vegreville responded quickly at 7:40, with a goal from, Austin Halliday. Cold Lake was sure to get a two-point lead before closing out the period, with goals from Bryce Schultheiss & Ethan Lacrocque.

Bartman spoke of scoring his first Jr B goal, “it’s pretty deadly. Buchta was along the way and I was skating by, he tossed it along the far side and I shot it in.” The quick defenseman was all smiles talking about heading into the second, “we need to keep our feet going, hitting bodies and scoring goals.”

The Rangers attempted to get back in the game, at the start of the second, with a goal from Ryan Bulter. It would be followed up with three Ice goals; Jean-Guy Boisvert, Donavan Bibeau, and Coltan Buchta. The Rangers again put in a goal, from Jared Steinbach, to close the period 6-3.

It was back and forth in third with Bryce Schultheiss firing first for the Ice, Alex Kitz of the Rangers responded. Steven Kufflick with the Ice put another in and Jared Steinbach had a last-ditch effort for the visiting team. It wouldn’t be enough and the Ice skated off the ice with sticks raised for the troops; 8-5.

“Two wins, that’s the biggest thing coming out of this weekend. We were sitting in tenth going into the weekend, now we’re in eighth,” Coach Scott Hood says it feels good to start seeing success from all the hard work. The team will travel to Wainwright and Lloydminister next weekend, Hood says with a few players out due to illness and injury, the goal for the team is to stay healthy. “Stay healthy and look after yourselves. Be ready for practice this week. To keep the success going we need guys to be healthy and ready.”