The weekend of March 26-27 was a time of intense rivalry between Stettler’s two minor hockey teams and their visiting opponents from Lacombe with the host teams winning one championship and leaving the second to the visitors.
On Saturday, Stettler’s atom Elks took on Lacombe Rockets at the blue rink and overpowered the opponents in a nail-biter, but their 3-2 win was not enough to upset the 4-2 loss they were handed down in their away game earlier.
But their elder sisters, Wells Furniture bantam girls took their revenge a day later when they narrowly edged Lacombe Rocket bantam girls 5-4 capturing the North Central Minor Hockey Association League championship.
In Saturday’s game, Adam Shirley gave the Elks an early lead in the first period by scoring his first goal in the fourth minute and he then consolidated the advantage by scoring another in the second period.
But it took less than 10 seconds for the Rockets to respond making the score 2-1, not good enough for the local boys to lift the trophy.
The intense pressure on the part of both teams to get another point on the scoreboard continued throughout the third period.
Just three and half minutes from regulation, Elks scored when Erik Rost made good use of an assist from Daylan Kuefler, making it 3-1 putting the championship within sight.
But Rockets had no intention of giving up and just 55 seconds after the Elks’ goal, they scored once again.
Having won the first game of the series 4-2, Rockets won the championship banner.
Rockets were also awarded Governor’s Fair Play Award.
On Sunday, bantam girls took on Lacombe Rocket bantam girls at the red rink where the visitors opened scoring early in the first period.
Local girls qiuckly responded and tit-for tat scoring continued well to the end of the second period.
With goals from Jayden Hogg, Grace Chapman, Autumn Woelk and Morgan VanDusen, the bantam girls ended the second period in the lead with a score of 4-3.
But Lacombe girls equalized early in the third period, sending Stettler team scrambling for another goal.
It came just four minutes from regulation through a clever move by Jayden Hogg and it sealed the league championship for the local girls with a 5-4 win.