Lock the door

Some of you may argue, but I maintain that the goalie is the most important position in hockey. Without a good goalie, teams will never go very far in playoffs or get to the provincial finals. The Midget Avalanche are fortunate this year in that department. Not just one, but both of their goalies are playing red hot right now and on top of their game.

Last Tuesday night, Colton ‘Colt 45’ Van Marion got the call and played one heck of a game; in fact, one of the best games I have ever seen him play. He shut the door and threw away the key on the Kitscoty Pitbulls. The Avalanche defeated the Pitbulls 1-0 in the first provincial round robin game. The Pitbull goalie was no slew either. He was hard to beat. Only one goal by the Avalanche and it was a bit of a fluke at that, scored by Hank the Tank Rogal. Somehow the puck popped up and over the goalie and dropped behind him. When the play stopped it was just over the line. Nick ‘Sparky’ Anderson and brother Charlie ‘Chuckles’ Rogal with the assists. The second game of this tight two games total point series will be sometime this coming weekend in Kitscoty. Let’s go Avalanche! 

On Superbowl Sunday, the second half of the goaltending tandem ‘Sexy Slader’ Hardcastle was between the pipes and played fantastic too against the Vermilion Tigers. He faced 37 shots stopping all of them except two. The final score 5-2 for the Avalanche. Team captain Nick ‘Sparky’ Anderson with two goals and an assist. One of the goals, a nice one-timer on the power play when he was set up with a sweet pass from the lanky D Man Evan ‘Batman’ Ockerman. The second one scored short-handed, ‘Sparky’ deking out the goalie. Our arena caretaker Brian Poitras described it after the game, “as the most filthy, sick goals he has every seen in his life. It made his face twist!”

Just in case you didn’t already know ‘Sparky’ has a little bit of talent and a whole lot of creativity! Two goals and an assist for ‘Hank the Tank’ Rogal who always plays a solid two-way game. Rugged winger Chase ‘Rink Rat’ Dorey with one goal. Set up man ‘Lightning Liam’ Ludlage and his shotgun wingman Dallas ‘Cowboy’ Bristow picking up the assists.

It was wicked cold on Saturday morning (minus 33 ) and lots of people were still shoveling out from the day before if they went outside at all. But that didn’t deter the Atom Avalanche who ventured out to Glendon. The snowy weather was a bit better than the day before, but the roads certainly not that great. The Avalanche had handed Glendon a 6-3 loss the week before in our barn but it was a different story when they returned to the Perogy village, Glendon winning this one 3-2. Madden ‘Mad Dog’ Flamand scoring both goals for the Avalanche and both of them unassisted.

The Atom Avalanche are a tier three team and will be hosting the D provincials in the middle of March. Trying to up their game to that level, they had booked a game against Paradise Valley, a Tier II team that sits somewhere in the middle of the division. The game was very one-sided for the first period with our team not skating at this level of speed and getting called for hooking, tripping and holding trying to stop the Jets.

After the first period, the team played much better and picked up the pace. The score still very one-sided, and the shots on goal very one-sided. ‘Mad Dog’ with two goals, one of them scored while the Avalanche were short-handed. He may have scored a few more but he seemed to be running out of real estate every time he took off on a rush and the Jets D Men steered him to the outside. This is where you need some other players rushing to the net with their sticks on the ice ready to receive a pass.

Defenseman Raif ‘Rug Rat’ Evans-Anderson getting the green light and going coast to coast with two goals and an assist. ‘Without a Trace’ Morgan played a strong game poke-checking the puck away from the Jets, with a goal and an assist.  Kaysen ‘Dynamite’ DeMossiac and  Braylee ‘Wee Willy’ Lesyk each with an assist. Goalie ‘Goodyear’ Charlie getting a good workout facing 63 shots. Rookie referee ‘Kid Kade’ Fontaine who is also the peewee goalie getting a chance to make a little cash and gain a little experience. He was one of the officials doing the game with the more experienced Kaiden Evans Anderson. The Kid looking very confident and doing a fine job.

The night before the Kid was very confident in the position he knows best, behind the mast and in the cage he came up huge against the Onion Lake Chiefs. The Chiefs are the top team in the tier three league and the Peewee team travelled there late Saturday afternoon coming home with a 0 to 0 tie.

On Sunday against Cold Lake at home the Peewee’s winning this one 5-1. Timmy ‘Freight Train’ Cardinal with two goals. His mother Margaret busy working the game sheet missed seeing both of them. The birthday boy Vaughn ‘the Vulture’ Ockerman with two goals. Brayden ‘Pinball’ Pinette with a goal. His parents were busy working the concession and missed it, but I can tell you it was a pretty nice goal. Pinball going roof daddy! Ryan ‘Ram Rod’ Cameron working his butt off getting some turnovers with an assist. Another grinder doing his share of the grunt work, Kaleb ‘Formula One’ Flamand with two assists.  Celebrating his 12th birthday today Gavin ‘Giver’ Kadutski with an assist. Giver never gives up ever!  He’s a small package with a huge heart. A terrific game for defense woman Spencer ‘Goldie Locks’ Malachowski. No one gets past her on defense. She made two trips over to the sin bin to visit me but plays with a ton of passion.

In out of town action Landon ‘The Magnificent’ Malachowski and ‘Mick Jagger’ Fontaine both playing for the St. Paul Bantam team defeated Lac La Biche on the weekend in the provincial round robin and will be playing Kitscoty in the next round. In league play, they recently defeated Kitscoty 8-1 so it’s looking really good for our boys to advance to the next round. In AA Peewee action ‘King Kong Konnor’ Poitras and Cash ‘Paycheque’ Capjack playing for the Lakeland Panthers both scored a goal in a 3 to 2 win over Peace River this past Saturday night up in Bonnyville.