Stettler Lightning trio Dylan Houston, Ethan Rost and Matt Sylvester each scored two goals as they powered the Bolts through the High River defence on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 20 in a home game.
The other goal was scored by Justin Golby. Lightning finished with a score of 7-5 against the Flyers after a twin loss to Blackfalds and Coaldale earlier in the week.
"I'm proud of the job we did on Sunday," said Head Coach Gavin Brandl. "I know we had stretches of the game where we were less than energetic, but when you consider that we had pulled back into Stettler at 4 a.m. from the night before I'm just really happy we executed well enough to put two points in the bank."
Brandl said that it would be nice to get back into their normal practice routine this week, as he knew "the boys are hungry to get back at Three Hills on Friday night."
Stettler's setback against Blackfalds and CoaldaleOn Tuesday, Nov. 15 Lightning's lacklustre performance in a home game ended in a 4-1 loss, with the lone goal being scored by Houston, with assists from Sylvester and Spady.
"Tuesday's game was frustrating in the sense that we felt like we did a lot of things right and probably deserved a better fate," said Brandl. "We have to give credit to Blackfalds goalie, he made some momentous saves for them especially in the first 30 minutes. I thought we could have had a three or four goal lead if not for him."
According to Brandl, the Bolts lost focus as frustration mounted but they came away from the game with some good teaching moments and a couple of important lessons that will benefit them as the season goes on.
In their game against Coaldale on Saturday, Nov. 19, Lightning charged through with Quade Cassidy netting the puck unassisted in the 11th minute of the game, but that was the only goal that Lightning scored throughout the evening.
Coaldale fired through the Lightning defence, winning by a huge margin, 9-1.
"The final score on Saturday was a bit deceiving," Brandl said. "Through 40 minutes we were neck and neck with them in what was an incredibly fast and competitive game."
Brandl went on to explain that it was kind of a perfect storm situation.
"We were in the toughest barn in the league to play in, against the most experienced team in the league and they were coming off two consecutive losses," Brandl added. "So they were determined to make us pay on every single mistake we made. That doesn't mean we get to make excuses, we definitely had areas of the game that we needed to be better in but I don't think our effort was nearly as flat as the scoreboard reflected."
The Bolts hope to continue their winning form as they play Three Hills on Friday, Nov. 25 in a home game at 7:30 p.m.