Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
What was a good weekend for Prince Albert’s U18 AA hockey teams could have been a great weekend if not for an unexpected loss by the Prince Albert U18 Timberwolves to the Northwest Stars in Centre-Four Hockey League action Sunday at the Lake Country Co-Op Leisure Centre.
“We didn’t play a full 60 minutes,” said a visibly disappointed Timberwolves head coach, Garth Bendig, after the 5-4 setback to the Stars. “The kids came in unfocused and we lost the small battles. We have to come more mentally prepared.”
There were two main reasons for Bendig’s frustration. The Timberwolves, who entered the weekend with a 6-8-0-2 record and were sitting in eighth place in the 11-team league, played a strong game on Saturday to get past the Martensville Marauders – a club that had twice as many wins as Prince Albert. Against the Stars on Sunday, a team with half as many victories as the Timberwolves, a Prince Albert win would have moved them into a tie for sixth place overall.
“We beat a team ahead of us and then lose to one below us; it’s a Jekyll and Hyde kind of thing,” lamented Bendig. “When they play their best they can be at the top of the league.”
Josh Charko and Carter Martin both had strong weekends for the Timberwolves with Charko leading the way on Sunday with two goals and an assist and Martin potting one goal and setting up two others. On Saturday, Martin was the offensive star with a goal and two helpers with his tally being the game winner while Charko had one goal and one assist.
Lennon Fetterly also scored for Prince Albert on Sunday while Ryan Ward and Zarryn Thomas rounded out the scoring for the Timberwolves on Saturday. Willis Finch picked up the win in the Timberwolves’ goal on Saturday stopping 30 of 33 shots he faced while Kale Bell was tagged with the loss on Sunday when he allowed five goals on 24 shots.
The Timberwolves will take a short break from CFHL action when they head to Regina next weekend for the MacBeth Invitational tournament. Prince Albert will return to league play on January 17 and 18 when they travel to Humboldt and Saskatoon to face the Broncos and Sabrecats, respectively. The next home game is Jan. 25 when the Northeast Wolfpack will provide the competition. Game time for that tilt is 5:30 p.m. at the Lake Country Co-Op Leisure Centre.
In female Midget AA action on the weekend, the Prince Albert Foxes improved their record to 6-6-1-1 with a 3-2 decision over the Western Prairie Thunder on Saturday at the Lake Country Co-Op Leisure Centre.
Kylie Huet and Maci Baillargeon staked the Foxes to a 2-0 advantage, but needed a goal by Marti Burechailo with just over two minutes left in the third period to secure the victory. Brianna Brataschuk was solid in the Prince Albert goal stopping 30 of 32 shots.
“It was a good start to the year,” acknowledged Foxes’ head coach BJ Brataschuk. “The girls played well. We forechecked hard and were on top of them all game.”
The Foxes will take a brief break from Saskatchewan Female Hockey League action this weekend when they will be one of the host teams for the massive 25th anniversary Prince Albert Foxes Female Hockey Tournament. There will be over 70 teams in the city competing in 10 divisions with the U18AA group featuring six clubs.
“We’re looking forward going into it on a high note,” said Brataschuk. “It will be good competition playing against teams we don’t usually see.”
Next league play for the Foxes will be Jan. 15 when the Northwest Thunder will once again provide the competition. That game will be at 8 p.m. at the Kinsmen Arena.
One other local team that was in action on the weekend was the Prince Albert Timberjaks in the Prairie Junior Hockey League.
On Friday, Trey Mudry had two goals and an assist to power the Timberjaks to a 4-1 decision over the Carrot River Outback Thunder improving Prince Albert’s record to 10-13-0-3. Jake Boettcher and Nate Jensen also scored for the Timberjaks, who were outshot 37-18, but got superb goaltending from Brayden Lyons.
The Timberjaks narrowly made it a perfect road swing on Sunday, but an empty-netter sealed a Saskatoon Royals’ 3-1 triumph as Prince Albert was applying pressure for the equalizer. Mudry once again sparked the Timberjaks’ offense scoring the only goal of the second period and Josh Henry had his turn between the pipes for Prince Albert turning aside 23 of 25 shots.
The Timberjaks return to action on Tuesday when they will host the Saskatoon Quakers at the Northern Regional Rec Centre. Game time is 8 p.m.
