It was a good start to the playoff series.
The Barrhead Midget 2 Renegades faced off against the Camrose Nordics Mar. 8 in the first round of league playoffs, winning 11-3 and head coach Dave Bondarchuk said he thought the team played well.
“We did a good job, in my opinion, for about half of the game”, Bondarchuk noted, adding he personally felt the team took too many undisciplined penalties.
“We were fortunate that Camrose only scored one powerplay goal. That being said, the boys did take advantage of their opportunities and had success when they kept things simple, took shots and drove the net for rebounds.”
Bondarchuk stressed that he believes the team needs to be more disciplined and give a full 60-minute effort in order to have continued success in the playoffs.
In the first period, the Renegades rattled their Midget counterparts early by scoring two goals in the first two-and-a-half-minutes.
Austin Van Patten led the way, scoring barely two minutes into the frame, on an assist from teammate Jonathan Sutherland and fellow Renegades player Mario Acevedo followed it up 15 seconds later, on an assist from teammates Colton Bondarchuk and William McKeever.
While the rest of the period saw a lot of collisions between players of both teams and, following a misconduct call against the Nordics, one Barrhead penalty shot that was defeated, Camrose rallied and managed to score one of their own bringing the score to 2-1 for Barrhead.
In the second period, Barrhead came out swinging with Ashton Gache scoring his first goal of the game in the first 30 seconds, with assists from players Osbaldo Marquez-Barrios and Connor O’Malley.
The score now, 3-1, the Nordics were able to score one off a power-play following a boarding penalty against Barrhead player Jordan Kleinfeldt three minutes in and managed to narrow the scoring gap to 3-2, but it was not to last.
At the ten-minute mark of the period, the Renegades began to dominate in terms of puck possession, shots on the clock and goal scoring.
Marquez-Barrios led the fray, scoring on an assist from Kleinfeldt, followed by Acevedo’s second and third goals 30 seconds apart and Kleinfeldt himself added one of his own to the mix, bringing the deficit to 7-2.
The third period saw the Renegades widen the scoring gap significantly, while the Nordics played catch-up and began to take the game personally.
Six minutes into the frame, Barrhead’s Marquez-Barrios scored his third goal, on an assist once again from Kleinfeldt, earning himself a hat trick and eight minutes later, the pair swapped roles on a powerplay with Kleinfeldt scoring on an assist from Marquez-Barrios and Gache.
It was then that a Nordics player chose to target Renegades player Austin Van Patten, skating from one side of the ice to the other with the intention of hurting the Barrhead player and succeeded in causing Van Patten to fly through the air.
Due to the nature of the hit, the Nordics player earned himself a game ejection and Gache scored again, on a powerplay assist from teammate Marquez-Barrios.
With the tally 10-2 for Barrhead, the Nordics rallied and managed to score their final goal of the game with less than one minute remaining.
And with only 10 seconds left on the clock, the Renegades cemented their victory with a goal from Van Patten himself, assisted by both Kleinfeldt and Gache.
