It was a scrappy pair of games over the weekend for the Stettler Lightning, which saw the team come home from the road with a win and a loss to their name.
The first game on Saturday, Nov. 7, pitted the Lightning against the Banff Academy Bears. After three hard-fought periods, the Lightning came away with a 6-4 victory.
The Lightning's first goal came off an aggressive powerplay offensive, giving Chandler Knibb the perfect opportunity to even the score. Derek Muhlbach scoring at the 30-second mark of the second, and less than five minutes in, Knibb scored his second goal of the game. Dylan Houston and Logan Davidson scored, and the second ended with a score of 5-2.
The third started with a final Lightning goal from Houston, and the game ended 6-4.
The next day, the Lightning faced the Okotoks Bisons, coming away with a hard-fought 5-4 loss.
The Lightning were first on the board this day, with Linden Heidecker sneaking the puck past the Bisons' netminder less than five minutes into the first. That was the only goal for the Lightning in that period, with the Bisons picking up two, including one on a powerplay.
The Bisons scored less than two minutes into the second, but Jacob Bottomley, using a powerplay to his advantage, closed the gap, bringing the score to 3-2. A series of penalties in the the late second penalty left the Lightning at a disadvantage, one the Bisons' used to their advantage, and the second ended with a score of 5-2.
The Lightning scrapped and clawed their way to two more goals, one from Knibb and another from Steven Fletcher, but the Lightning weren't able to tie up the game, leaving with a close 6-5 loss.
The Lightning next play at home this Friday, Nov. 13 against the Airdrie Thunder. The following day, the Cochrane Generals play here in Stettler. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
Big Valley Oil Kings home opener this weekendThe Big Valley Oil Kings senior hockey team'll be taking to home ice on Sunday, Nov. 15 for their homeopener of the season.
There'll be several familiar faces on the team this year, General Manager Dustin Edwards said, including goalie Chance Edwards, who two seasons ago won the BRHL goalie of the year award. The team has had some solid recruiting coups this season, though, including the former Red Deer Rebels' Chad Robinson and Matt Stefanishion, who while not making the NHL draft, was contracted by the Washington Capitals for two years.
The team has already played five away games, hindered in part by the lack of ice in Big Valley.
"The team is really starting to gel," Edwards said. "We had a few games where nothing could go right, but now we've pulled together and we have lines forming."
With the ice now in, the team's home opener against the Whitecourt Wild will happen on Sunday, Oct. 15, with the puck dropping at 3 p.m.