There will be some growing pains, but Bow Valley Midget AA Timberwolves are embracing that growth.
Timberwolves opened the South Central Alberta Midget AA Hockey League season with a pair of losses, dropping the Oct. 2 season opener 7-2 in Red Deer before playing it close with Airdrie Lightning in a 7-5 loss Oct. 3 at Cochrane Arena.
Cochrane-based T-wolves were in the Airdrie game, swapping leads twice, improving over the one-sided opener in Red Deer.
“Yeah, they were up to speed. We kept with them for two periods. We got into some penalty trouble in the third,” said Timberwolves head coach Erik Krigel of the Red Deer road game. Krigel replaces Kris Keller as head coach. Kodi Pente, Darren Robson and Sam Yetman are Krigel’s assistant coaches.
With the Oct. 2 Red Deer road game in the rear view (T-wolves goals from Spencer Chapman and Jaeden Dowling), T-wolves came home Oct. 3 to host Airdrie Lightning. Bow Valley led the game twice, but was unable to hold on. The first two regular-season games provide coach Krigel a glimpse of the team’s strengths and weaknesses.
“Our penalty-kill is amazing,” he related. “We’ve had to use it quite a bit. Very impressed. We don’t have to work on PK.”
Timberwolves had 12 penalties against Airdrie, five in the third period that pretty much served up the win to Lightning.
“We seem to have trouble in our own barn staying out of the box,” Krigel lamented. But he’s undeterred and likes the mix of players he has in the room.
“The boys are working hard, though. They aren’t giving up. They’ll continue to work hard. Everybody in the dressing room is buying into our program. Everybody gets along. The camaraderie is good between the players themselves and between the coaches and the players.”
From there it’s just about tending to the team’s needs on the ice.
“Power play is about finding the right guys,” Krigel said. “The other thing we have to work on is our break-out. We’re having some troubles getting out of our own end. We’re getting hemmed in and then we’re losing battles in the neutral zone. Once we’re getting into the offensive end, we’re setting up well and creating chances. But we need to get there first.
“We’re going to have a strong season. We just need to work on a few things. From here we just build and move forward.”
Chapman had a goal and assist against Airdrie with Dylan Rieberer scoring twice. Jean-Pascal Leclerc scored Bow Valley’s other goal with Michael Hodges earning two assists. Dawson Javorsky and Bradley Wills also earned assists.
Timberwolves (0-2) host Olds Grizzlies (1-0) Oct. 9 at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre Totem 1 Arena, 8 p.m. puck drop.
