It wasn’t the most convincing couple of games, but the Bow Valley Bantam AA Timberwolves managed to get through a tough weekend where they pick up a win and a loss against two of the best team’s in the South Central Alberta Hockey League (SCAHL).
T-wolves travelled to Central AB Selects on Jan. 8, looking to upset the best team in the North Division, and they couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.
Curtis Scott (Dean Olenyk and Connor Stephenson assisting) opened the scoring for the visitors early in the first period, before Caleb Willms (Stephenson picking up his second assist) doubled T-wolves lead, before Selects clawed one back going into the second period.
Selects came back with a vengeance in the second, added two goals to make the score 3-2, before T-wolves again levelled through Stephenson (Willms with the helper) heading into the third.
Stephenson (Willms and Olenyk again assisting) gave the visitors a 4-3 lead with just under five minutes left to play, but heartbreak struck with just nine seconds left in the game as Selects tied things up, for a 4-4 final score.
“It was a really tough game where we played well,” said Timberwolves head coach Tyson Soloski. “We could have definitely won, but a sloppy line change was the key in them tying it up.”
The tie means that Selects still maintain a ten-point lead atop the North Division. Does Soloski think that there’s still enough time left in the season for his team to catch up?
“Our goal is to definitely catch them,” he said. “There’s 13 games left and we think we will have to win 11 or 12 to have any chance at that. As a team, we believe we can win all of the games, but we need some breaks. If not though, we’ll be content to stay in second and make the playoffs come March.
T-wolves followed up the Selects draw, with a 4-3 home win over Wheatland Warriors on Jan. 10.
Scott, Ethan Noble, Samuel Kroon, and Dean Olenyk were the goal getters for the home team. Kroon, Stephenson, Ty Parker, Nicholas Drennan, Bailey Petersen, and Francesco Perkovic all picked up assists.
“That was a game where we took advantage of some powerplays in the second period,” Soloski said. “We had four or five in a row, and managed to grab three goals on them, to go 4-1 up. They came out really hard in the third, and we barely held on for the win, but the boys did a really good job of playing the d-zone and picking up the two points.”
