Going into Friday night’s home game, the Barrhead Midget ‘A’ Steelers were tied 1-1 for the Northern Alberta Interlock Hockey League Midget Tier 1 Championship.
Although Barrhead had won Game 1 of the playoff series on March 8 by a score of 3-2, their opponents from Slave Lake had won Game 2 on March 10 by a narrow 5-3.
Coach Lee Abernathy acknowledged that Slave Lake had come out hard in their final home game of the year. “When it’s your last home game, you tend to pump up a little bit,” he said.
However, that gave the Barrhead Steelers their first and only taste of loss their entire season. And, as Abernathy put it, they didn’t seem to like it one bit.
“They came out and busted ass and they played hard,” said Abernathy, following the Steelers’ 7-1 victory at the Agrena.
“They wanted it bad and it showed. They played very well.”
Barrhead did indeed come out hard in Friday’s home game, scoring a goal in just under a minute of play. Luke Szybunka drew first blood for the Steelers, assisted by Landon Petiot and Sheldon Dewsnap.
Jeremy DeVries increased their lead to 2-0 about four minutes later, assisted by Brendan Bujold and Colton Bondarchuk. Then Szybunka netted an unassisted goal to put the Steelers up 3-0.
The remainder of the first period was uneventful, save for a final goal by Petiot off of Devyn Kerr and Syzbunka with four minutes left.
Commanding a 4-0 lead, Barrhead racked up another two goals in the second period. Owen Weeks scored a shorthanded goal three minutes into the period and Bondarchuk netted the six goal off of DeVries and Bujold.
The third period kicked off with Slave Lake making a penalty shot on goalie Colton Griffiths. He blocked it, making what was arguably the play of the game.
Barrhead’s seventh goal came on a power play 10 minutes into the game off assists by Bondarchuk and Weeks. Slave Lake managed to score with just over two minutes left, but it was too late to attempt any comeback.
Although Griffiths was denied a shutout, he did block 18 of 19 shots on goal, including the penalty shot.
“It’s a good way to end the regular season. Now we just go to provincials and hopefully get that one too,” said Abernathy.
The Midget ‘A’ Provincial Championships will take place in Strathmore from Thursday to Sunday, March 21-24.
