Eddie Giacomin said, “Goaltending beats top-notch scoring anytime.”
Admittedly, Giacomin might have been a bit biased considering he amassed 267 wins in a 15-year NHL Hall of Fame career with New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings but he had a point, one the Barrhead midget Renegades proved during the first game of their first-round zone 3 C provincial qualifier.
On Jan. 22, the Renegades skated away with a 3-3 tie against the Westlock Warriors at the Barrhead Agrena despite being outshot by more than a two-to-one margin.
Game 2 of the total point series was in Westlock Jan. 27 where Warriors defeated the Renegades 7-1, the game to move on to the next round.
Barrhead drew first blood, scoring against the flow of the play about six and a half minutes into the first period on a goal by Owen Stoik, assisted by Justin Baker.
Westlock tied the game with just a little over a minute when Reid Schmidt scored a power-play goal assisted by Benjamin Carlson and Ryley Booth.
Shots on goal favoured Westlock 22 to 4.
In the second period, Barrhead seemed to find their legs and while they found themselves on their heels for portions of the frame, the play was about equal as the shots on net verified with the Warriors holding a slight edge 14 to 12 in shots..
At about the 13-minute mark, after surviving a prolonged period in their own zone, Barrhead broke the stalemate on a goal by Kayden Harder, assisted by Baker and Stoik.
The Renegades would go on to extend their lead four minutes later when Carter Bergseth scored a goal that was assisted by Connor O’Malley.
Unfortunately for Barrhead, the Warriors got that one back when Dawson Petryshen scored a short-handed goal that was assisted by Jonah Bennett.
Although it looked like Barrhead was going to be able to squeak out the win largely on the performance Keaton Branden, with just 23 seconds left in the third period Zaidyn Pipke scored the tying goal with assists awarded to Bennett and Schmidt.
Renegades assistant coach Laine Baker said overall he was pleased with the team’s play and effort.
“We played pretty well, lost some battles along the boards, but we were fighting above our weight class,” he said, noting Westlock is a Tier 2 team while Barrhead is Tier 4. “And obviously our goaltending really held us in there.”
As for the regular season, the team, as of Jan. 22. sports a 9-3-2 record.
“Before Christmas, we won our last five games and in the new year we have been playing .500 or better,” Baker said.
