Bow Valley Bantam AA Timberwolves are on a hot streak.
With two wins over the weekend, T-wolves have won five games on the trot, and are in second-place in the South Central Alberta Hockey League’s (SCAHL) North Division with a record of 9-5.
T-wolves hosted Taber Golden Suns (11-4-1, 1st, South Division) on Nov. 21 at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre.
From the get-go, T-wolves weren’t overawed by one of the top teams in the league.
They kept the score 0-0 after the first period despite having several good chances.
T-wolves kicked it into a higher gear in the second, as Dean Olenyk (assisted by Caleb Willms and Morgan Wulff) broke the deadlock.
The same trio struck again on the power-play less than three minutes later as Willms scored (Olenyk and Wulff providers).
From there, it was a defensive master class from the home side who have looked more and more like a cohesive unit every game.
Golden Suns got a short-handed goal late on from Grady Honess, but it was always going to be T-wolves’ day, as they put in one of the performances of the season.
“It was our best game of the year by far,” Tyson Soloski, Timberwolves head coach said.
“Everyone knows that Taber is one of the best teams in the league, and I was sure that we could beat them if we played a full 60 minutes and not 50 or 40.”
What did Soloski do to prepare his team for an opponent that has scored more goals (82) than any other side in the league?
“In practice, we talked a lot about the d-zone,” he said. “We worked hard on making our breakout and transition better.
“It paid off.”
T-wolves then travelled to Red Deer on Nov. 22 to face Ramada (3-7-6, 4th, North Division).
The Red Deer side raced to a 3-0 lead in the first period, before T-wolves responded in the second with four answered goals.
Wulff, Willms, Curtis Scott, and Ty Parker all chipped in as T-wolves took a 4-3 lead going into the final period.
Ramada made things interesting when they equalized after less than two minutes into the period, before Olenyk scored the winner with 13 minutes left to play.
“In the first period, we came out flat,” Soloski confessed.
“I think after Taber everyone thought that it was going to be easy, and the next thing we know, we’re down three goals in the first period. We didn’t play well at all.
“We stepped up in the second though, and then in the third it was back and forth. We had to deal with a little diversity when they equalized, but we buckled down and kept the puck out of our net for the two points.”
Timberwolves next host Old Grizzlies (5-7-3, 3rd, North Division) on Nov. 29 at Cochrane Arena.
“We haven’t played Olds in the regular season yet,” Soloski said. “We do know that they are going to be tough. They’re a big and strong team. We are going to have to use our puck movement and speed if we want to beat them.”
Puck-drop is 5:30 p.m.
