By Darren Bayrack /
It was anything but easy, but the Northwest Calgary Athletic Association Stampeders slammed the brakes on a seven-game winless streak with a 6-5 victory over the visiting Red Deer IROC Chiefs on Dec. 12.
The Stamps (4-7-4) went into the contest at Frank McCool Arena without a win in Alberta Minor Midget Hockey League action since Nov. 3, having played to a 0-4-3 record over that stretch.
“It’s been up and down trying to get some momentum going into the Christmas break,” said Stamps assistant coach Alex Mandolidis. “You don’t want to be playing your best hockey at the start of the season, but we are running out of games here, and real estate. It would definitely be nice to string a few wins in a row and play to our potential — make that last final push.”
The Stampeders opened the third period with a 4-3 lead before James Mathieson beat Red Deer goalie Dasan Sydora to give the home squad a two-goal advantage.
The Stamps capitalized on the powerplay minutes later to jump ahead 6-3, thanks to a goal by Dylan Sakatch.
Not a team to quit, the Chiefs (8-4-4) stormed back with two goals but couldn’t get the equalizer thanks to a number of timely saves by Stamps goalie Cody Boeckman.
“You have got to give credit to Red Deer, they are one of the top teams in the league,” Mandolidis added. “They pressured us with shots. Cody is definitely one of the premier goalies in our league and was able to be poised and make that first save for us, which is always key. Absolutely, hats off to him.”
The goaltender hopes the victory springboards the Stamps to more success in the coming months.
“Rough start obviously,” Boeckman explained. “I think today might be a good turnaround game for us and just keep on going from here. Hopefully, we continue to work hard and do that.”
Mitchell Amatto had a three-point night against Red Deer and leads the Stampeders in scoring this season with 18 points, including nine goals.
“Getting this one win was a little tough for our team, but now I think that we’ve got it, we will keep rolling,” predicted Amatto. “I think we have a pretty talented team. We were playing a little soft there for a couple (of games), but now we really picked it up.”
Stampeder captain Kirk Lissel shares his teammates’ optimistic outlook for the rest of the hockey season.
“This game means a lot to us,” Lissel said. “It’s going to be a turning-around point for our season. Hopefully, we just keep winning from now on.”
Nicholas Josephs had a big game for the Stamps in the win with two second period goals.
AMMHL notes:
• The Lethbridge Hurricanes (15-2-1) boast the top three scorers in the Southern Conference as of Dec. 14 and have lit up goaltenders with 99 goals in just 18 games. The high-scoring trio consists of Brooks Maxwell (17-24-41), Craig Lyon (18-15-33) and Russell Maxwell (16-16-32).
• Goaltenders Wilson Sproule of the Keystone Raiders and Devin McDonald of the Calgary Buffalo Hockey Association Blackhawks lead the south in GAA at 0.93 and 1.24, respectively. |
