Slip n’ Slide

The roads were horrible late Sunday afternoon. Lucky for us all of our teams played at home on Sunday and most of the games ended  before the wet snow/rain happened. You could have skated home Sunday evening right down the middle of the highways with no problem.

On Saturday when three of our teams were on the road and the highway was dry and fine for travelling. Except for the northwest head wind that helped by  eating  up the gas.

The Atom Avalanche headed northwest to Lac La Biche Saturday morning, losing the game by a respectable 7-4 score. The shots on goal were fairly even in the end.

Goalie Brendan ‘Buzz Saw’ Kadutski behind the mask doing a good job keeping it close. Remington ‘Steel’ Reynolds scoring an unassisted goal just seconds before the buzzer in the first period.  Braylee ‘Wee Willy’ Lesyk scoring the other two goals, both of them unassisted.  A nice tail wind to bringing them back south.

Some of them heading straight to Bonnyville to watch their brothers or sisters play with the Peewees. The Peewee Avalanche losing a close one 2-1.

Sunday morning Cold Lake came calling to play our Atom Avalanche team and this one was a one sided event. Our guys winning easily by double digits and then some. Braylee ‘Wee Willy’ Lesyk with his grandparents from Ontario in the crowd wanted to make them proud. He scored six goals and added two assists. I’m sure he could have scored some more and that fact is, he did pass the puck many times.

Four goals each for Kale ‘the Hawk’ Ockerman and ‘Wild Wyatt’ Fontaine. A hat trick for ‘Without a Trace’ Morgan. Brenden ‘Buzz Saw’ Kadutski with one goal and two assists. ‘Boe Dog’ St. George with two assists. Jaxon ‘Smitty’ Smith, ‘Notorious Nolan’ Ballas and ‘J.R.’ Jackson Rawlake with one assist each. Between the pipes for his first time ever and doing a stand up job , was Denys ‘the Menace’ Kuba.

Not a great weekend for the Bantam Avalanche though. Not only did they take it on the chin and lose both games: Saturday in St Paul and Sunday in Elk Point against the Vermilion Tigers, by big one sided scores.  But, the Avalanche, also lost their top goal scorer ‘Mic Jager’ Fontaine, who it appeared a buckle fracture to his arm in the game on Sunday. It could have been worse. The word is Mic will only be out for a few weeks with a cast. This will be during the preseason tiering games and he will be back in time for the regular season.

Many of these games in the preseason are very one sided. Fun when you’re on the winning side. Not so much when you’re losing. Try and tell the kids not to score goals is almost impossible. Especially since some of them rarely do score. They want a goal no matter what.

The Peewee Avalanche hit the ice Sunday against the Vermilion Tigers. This game was very competitive and exciting to watch. The Avalanche coming out gangbusters scoring five times in the first period. The Vermilion Tigers replying with only one goal in the first period. Goalie ‘Goodyear Charlie’ Lesyk robbing them more than once of a few more.

Coaches are always telling their players go to the net with your stick on the ice.  Ella ‘Stellar’ Ballas obviously was listening. She scored two goals in the first period being in the right place at the right time and was ready both times with her stick down and trigger cocked. Madden ‘Mad Dog’ Flamand the set up man, setting her up both times. Mad Dog also set up his big brother Kaleb ‘Formula One’ with a goal in the first period too. Kaysen ‘Dynamite’ DeMossiac scoring one assisted by Formula One. Gavin ‘Giver’ Kadutski who was moved from defense to center for this game finding the back of the net with one too. He was set up by ‘Top Gunner’ Crawford. Top Gunner normally a forward played back on the D for the second and third periods.

Tall rugged D man ‘Cyclone Cole’ Pierce with two assist in the first period. Formula One getting on the board with his second goal of the game in the second period. Evett ‘Snoop Dog’ Smereka and Top Gunner assisting.

The score after forty minutes, Avalanche up 6-1. Game over for the Tigers?  The third period was all the Tigers. Scoring three unanswered goals and making a game of it. 6-4 now the score. Time out called by the Tigers. They pull the goalie in the last minute. The  pressure is on  ‘ Good Year Charlie.  He shuts the door. Rushing defenseman Raif ‘Rug Rat’ Evans Anderson scores an empty netter with only 4 seconds on the clock to put the final nail in the coffin.