Under-15 Thunder sweep Coaldale, Picture Butte in weekend games

By Rob Vogt Local Press Writer
The Claresholm Under-15 Thunder are beginning to make some noise in the Tier-3 White Division of the Central Alberta Hockey League after winning both games they hosted this past weekend.
The Thunder welcomed Coaldale on Saturday night, Jan. 22, beating their visitors by a score of 7-5.
Kieran Pothegadoo gave Claresholm a 1-0 lead just 13 seconds into the game, assisted by Carson Ring and Kaden Pothegadoo, and Grayden Desjarlais upped the lead to 2-0 before the period ended with assists from Colby Symens and Blake Cisar.
Coaldale responded in force in the second period, pouring in four goals while Kieran Pothegadoo responded with an unassisted goal and his brother Kaden Pothegadoo tied the game 4-4 on a set-up from Tayte Willows and Braydan Day Chief.
Ring gave Claresholm a 5-4 lead part way through the third period, with help from Cisar, then 20 seconds later Kieran Pothegadoo made the score 6-4 with assists from Kaden Pothegadoo and Seannon Ocampo.
Ring added an unassisted marker six minutes later to make the score 7-4, and Coaldale replied a minute later with a goal to make 7-5 the final score.
Goaltender Finn Buhmiller turned aside 26 shots for the win.
The Thunder were back on the ice Sunday afternoon, Jan. 23, where they defeated the Picture Butte Blades by a score of 6-5.
Picture Butte opened the scoring but the Thunder responded with two goals by Kaden Pothegadoo, from Ring and Desjarlais, and Kieran Pothegadoo, from Willows and Kaden Pothegadoo to lead 2-1 after 20 minutes.
Picture Butte tied the game five minutes into the second, but Desjarlais gave Claresholm a 3-2 lead going into the second intermission, assisted by Symens and Josh Gibson-Morrison.
That set up a wild third period.
Ring gave the Thunder a 4-2 lead, assisted by Cisar, but Picture Butte responded 37 seconds later to close to 4-3.
Ring then made the score 5-3 with help from Symens, only to have Picture Butte score two goals 30 seconds apart to tie the game at 5-5.
However, just 33 seconds later Symens jammed home the game winner, with assists from Desjarlais and Willows to gave Claresholm the 6-5 win.
Buhmiller was again solid in net, making two point-blank saves in the last minute, and 17 saves overall for the win in net.