Claresholm Junior ‘A’ Thunder notch first win, beating Athabasca
passing play - Greame Galloway at right, of the Claresholm Junior “A” Thunder looks to pass in National Junior Hockey League action at Claresholm Arena on Friday night, Oct. 10. Photo by Rob Vogt
By Rob Vogt
The Claresholm Junior “A” Thunder may have reached a turning point, by splitting a pair of weekend games against Athabasca.
The Thunder hosted the Rivermen at Claresholm Arena on Friday night, Oct. 10, dropping a tough 4-2 decision.
The game started like so many for the Thunder where they fell behind 2-0 after the first period.
This time, things were very different in the second period.
After Athabasca took a penalty, Claresholm began to press.
Their forecheck was relentless as they kept the puck in the Rivermen end for long stretches of time.
Finally, their effort paid off as Austin Jones pounced on a rebound and beat the Athabasca goaltender to cut the deficit to 2-1 with 8:47 to play. Assists went to Rapheal Ishpatao and Greame Galloway.
Claresholm kept pressing and tied the game on an innocent-looking play just under four minutes later.
Tyler Creed threw the puck at the Athabasca and, it found its way through a maze of arms and legs, beating the Rivermen goalie and tying the game 2-2.
Torin Tailfeathers assisted on the play, as the teams skated into the second intermission knotted at 2-2.
However, it was not meant to be.
Athabasca took a 3-2 lead with just over five minutes gone in the third period.
The Thunder pressed for the equalizer, but could not beat the Athabasca goaltender.
Claresholm pulled their goalie for an extra attacker late in the game, but the Rivermen scored an empty net goal with 1:13 to play to secure the 4-2 victory.
The Thunder effort was a sign of things to come.
The teams were back on the ice on Saturday, Oct. 11, and they wrote a very different story.
This time Claresholm jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, on a goal from Sam Lalo Malac, assisted by Austin Jones, and lead 1-0 after the first period.
After a scoreless second period and more than 19 minutes in the third, Koh Teramura scored an unassisted marker with 15 seconds to play, to give Claresholm the 2-0 win.
Goaltender Alex Russell earned the win in net, stopping all 37 shots he faced.