It’s that time of year when no matter how you play, the key is to keep picking up points.
That’s what the Airdrie-Cochrane (AC) Avalanche did when they played three games in the space of four days last week in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League (AMMHL).
Avs (13-10-7, 8th South Division) visited Red Deer Northstar Chiefs (6-19-6, 12th South Division) on Feb. 3.
It was a game where the visitors were looking for payback after the last time these two teams met (a 3-1 Chiefs victory).
Goals in the first period from the in-form Austin Wong and Cole Reinhardt (Eric Van Tetering, Wong, and Joel Shoemaker assisting) gave Avs a 2-0 lead.
The Cochrane-based side secured a 4-0 lead in the second period, thanks to goals from Scott Shugg and Wong (his second of the game).
Kory Zinck, Ben Davison, and Van Tetering (his second) all grabbed helpers.
Chiefs crawled back with two goals in the third period.
Braydon McLaughlin and Jordan Adams scored for the home team, but the visitors’ win was secured, as Avs ran out 4-2 victors.
Avs continued their unbeaten run on Feb. 6, as they travelled away to CNHA Blazers (10-17-4, 9th South Division).
The hard-fought battle ended in a 1-1 draw, with Wong scoring for Avs, (Reinhardt and Van Tetering assisting).
Cameron Mcadam scored for the home side.
Continuing their road trip, Avs went into their Feb. 7 game against CNHA Canucks (8-15-7, 10th South Division) looking to make it five games in a row unbeaten, and didn’t get off to the start they were looking for, as they went 2-0 in the first 11 minutes of the opening period.
Jack Hanrahan and Brendan Adams scoring for Canucks.
Avs cut the home side’s lead in half through Reinhardt (Ryan Ries and Shoemaker grabbing assists) going into the second.
The visitors evened things up less than four minutes into the second period, as forward Keenan McElroy grabbed one for Avs.
George Reed and Shugg adding helpers.
The deadlock lasted little more than three minutes however, as Canucks took a 3-2 lead thanks to Adams – grabbing his second – going into the final period of play.
Despite having some chances to equalize in the third, Avs didn’t strike until 3:21 remaining, when Wong scored (Shoemaker and Reinhardt with helpers) to salvage a 3-3 draw, and a point for the visitors.
“It wasn’t a bad week,” said Avs head coach Kenton Levesque.
“Obviously we wanted to get a few more points, but they were really hard-fought battles and good games.
“We were happy with how we played.”
All season long, Avs have been battling it out and swapping positions with Blazers and Canucks in the standings.
Did Levesque hope that his team could put some distance between themselves and those two teams over the weekend?
“We were happy to get two points out of those games,” he said.
“Now, we’re going into this coming weekend only having to play one game against NWCAA Stampeders, so it will be a bit of a breather since this last week was pretty hectic.”
Avs currently sit eighth in their division and only have seven regular-season games left. Did Levesque expect his team to be in this sort of position at this stage of the year?
“We were hoping to be a little bit higher,” he admitted.
“But, our main goal from the start of the year was to make the Sutter Cup, and the spot we’re in now will allow us to do that.
“We’re happy to get a chance to go to the tournament, and anything can happen there so we’re really excited. Hopefully, we can stay where we are in the standings or climb a bit higher. We’ve got games against Medicine Hat and Lethbridge coming up, so we’re hoping to pick some points up there.”
Avs next host NWCAA Stampeders on Feb. 13 at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre.
The last time these two teams met (Jan. 23), Stamps ran out 5-3 winners, but Levesque is expecting a different result, as his team has home ice advantage this time around.
“We’ve been way better at home this season than we have on the road, so that will give us an extra boost,” he said.
“The last time we played them it was a tight game. They scored an empty netter, and we had a chance to tie it late.
“Eric Van Tetering will be starting against them, so hopefully he can give us another solid game like he has for the last couple.
“If that happens, I like our chances of coming out with two points.”
Puck-drop for the Stampeders game is 4:15 p.m.
