The Stettler junior B Lightning are certainly refining their scoring touch, especially overt the past three games as they notched 21 goals in three games.
The scoring frenzy began at home Dec. 12 as the Bolts hosted the Three Hills Thrashers, one of the teams in the Heritage league with the fewest wins.
Lightning head coach Rory Rost said even though the Bolts recorded a 7-4 win in front of the hometown crowd, he feels the game should have progressed better. Rost said the Lightning were being a little selfish, and not moving the puck around the way they’ve been taught. He said players were trying to do everything themselves instead of getting their teammates involved.
But he said a win is a win, especially in the Heritage Junior B League, where parity is everything. “At the end of the night we got a win and we needed that win,” said Rost.
Friday, Dec. 15 the Lightning were on the road to face a tough Airdrie team. The Bolts lost a close 8-7 decision. Rost said it didn’t look good early on, as the Lightning were down 6-1, then 7-1, but the Bolts didn’t give up and scored a couple goals to get back into it.
By the third period the Lightning were within one goal of tying up but ran out of time.
He said the team dug a big hole early on by letting Airdrie get so far ahead, and any team that faces a 6-1 lead is making things tough on themselves.
The Bolts obviously didn’t let that close loss demoralize them, as the very next night they were back on home ice, back scoring goals and back to winning as they beat the visiting Mountainview Colts 7-1.
Rost said it could have gone worse, as the Lightning were losing some races for loose pucks, but the Lightning lived up to their name by the second period and started using their speed to blast the visiting Colts. Rost said the game turned “when we started skating and throwing our team speed at them.”
The head coach said that by the end of the game the Colts didn’t seem to even want to touch that puck.
The head coach said that Saturday night win was a good warm-up for a re-match in Mountainview’s house when the Bolts travel to Didsbury Dec. 22.
Rost said the Lightning offense is clicking but the team needs to tighten the defense a bit.
editor@stettlerindependent.com