Stettler Lightning lost to Banff Academy Bears 2-1 on Friday, Oct. 16 and once again to Strathmore Wheatland Kings 5-4 onSaturday, Oct. 17, completing another weekend without a win.
But despite the losses, head coach Gavin Brandl feels the team is back on track.
“Despite the losses I see this weekend as a step back in the right direction,” said Brandl. “We got back to that hard working,win every battle mentality that we had been missing, but unfortunately the results weren’t in our favour.”
Against Banff Bears, Lightning fought hard to keep the first period goalless, but in the second period Philip Schader of BanffBears broke through their defence to score the first goal of the game, assisted by Kenta Tanaka.
Lightning came back in the third period with Derek Muhlbach equalizing the score, assisted by Matt Johannson and StevenFletcher, but Banff Bears triumphed in the end as Rei Kikuchi with a pass from Blaise Arkle scored during power play,defeating Lightning 2-1.
“Against Banff on Friday we ran into a real hot goalie and had a couple chances go post out instead of post in, which always seems to be the case when you’re trying to get out of a slump, but our discipline was top notch and I thought it was a good rebound effort in comparison to our games on Thanksgiving weekend,” said Brandl.
On Saturday, Lightning matched wits with Strathmore Kings as Dylan Houston equalized in the first period, assisted byLogan Davidson.
But, Strathmore scored once again in the first period to go up 2-1.
Lightning played an inspired game of hockey in the second period as Derek Muhlback scored, assisted by Kieran Rost,followed by an unassisted goal by Matt Johannson, taking the score up to 3-2.
However, a powerful third period from the Strathmore Kings took the game away form Lightning.
“Saturday against Strathmore we certainly played good enough to win, but around the ten minute mark of the third with a two-goal lead we started to play too cautious instead of just continuing to attack and push the pace, which allowed them toclaw back into it,” said Brandl. “We need to develop a killer instinct and just continue to play our system when ouropponents start to push for a comeback because this is the second lead we have blown late and it can’t happen again.”
Lightning started the third period with a goal scored by Chandler Knibb, assisted by Dylan Houston, but soon the 4-2 lead whittled away as Strathmore Kings struck three times, consecutively, finally winning the game 5-4.
“We will do some work on our special teams this week, our power play was shut out this weekend so we need to get that sorted out,” said Brandl. “Aside from that we just have to keep our heads down and keep grinding, as we aren’t going to get any favours to help us get out of this funk we are in, we just have to put in the work and create our own breaks and things will start to go our way again.”
Lightning plays two more home games next weekend, Friday, Oct. 23 against Ponoka, and Saturday, Oct. 24 against Okotoks.