The Stettler Lightning didn’t earn any points in their season-opening 2-1 loss to the host Three Hills Thrashers last Friday, but they made their point just the same.
“We had pretty good positional control of the hockey game for most of it,” said Doug Smith, coach and general manager of the Heritage Junior Hockey League team.
“In the (scoreless) first period, we were very disciplined and maybe deserved a little bit better fate, but it was what it was. For the first game of the regular season, on the road, I thought we did very well. All four lines did a super job.
“In the second period, we got up by one, and then we got caught on a late change at our bench for their tying goal. But that period was pretty even.
“In the third period, we got a little undisciplined, so that eventually cost us. The winning goal was on their power play. We came back and hit a couple of goal-posts in the last half of the third period, and we had a couple of good setup chances point-blank that their goaltender made the save on.”
Brady Hoover made 44 saves in the Three Hills net, while former Thrasher Simon Thieleman blocked 24 shots for Stettler. Thieleman was charged with a double-minor in the third period, and Connor Ablett responded with the power-play winner at 9:20 for his second goal of the night.
Veteran forward Reese Anheliger scored the lone Lightning goal, and newcomer Joel Meredith picked up an assist.
“All in all, we need to do some special teams work, because we just haven’t been together long enough to get the power play sharp, with some new personnel in there,” said Smith, whose club went 3-0 in the preseason.
“Penalty kill, though, I thought we did pretty well for the first time out for a lot of those guys. There was some really good efforts on the penalty kill.
“Our goaltending was solid and I thought the defence did a good job of controlling the front of our net. Simon only had to make five or six really tough saves. The rest we kind of kept all in front of him. So I thought that was a real plus. The only thing we didn’t do was finish.”
Smith said the Lightning’s depth showed in that he was able to roll four lines all night, even with veterans out of the lineup — Derek Mulhbach and Wyat Haustein weren’t available because of work, and second-year defenceman Steven Fletcher of Castor is attending college in Calgary, but is still expected for some games this fall and full-time later in the season.
“I thought the two defencemen — D.J. (Kistner) and Blake Johnson — that went up front in Friday’s game did a super job. You could tell that Blake has played a little bit of wing before.”
Johnson is from New Brunswick and is working in Bashaw.
Bashaw’s Ryan Graff, who graduated from high school last spring, has joined the Lightning after skating with the Ponoka Stampeders earlier in the pre-season.
“He skates very well for a big kid and can move the puck really well,” Smith said of Graff, a defenceman.
“Guys like Logan Davidson, I thought he had a terrific game. He’s just an honest, hard-working player. You get heart and determination — and that goes a long way.”
Up next for the Lightning is a Saturday road game against the Red Deer Vipers.
Stettler’s home-opener is Oct. 5, a week from Saturday, against the Banff Bears.