Monday, February 21, 2011 /
By Laurence Heinen /
Despite battling a rash of injuries this season, the Edge Gold Midget AA Mountaineers have found a way to remain competitive.
“We came out and were very good early and then basically went through an unbelievable injury situation,” explained head coach Scott Atkinson. “We played for over a month with like 10 guys, 11 guys and both of our goalies were hurt. We basically played well but didn’t get much for it.”
The Edge Gold squad rounded out its Canadian Sport School Hockey League season at home on Feb. 12 with a 5-0 win over Okanagan Hockey Academy Red.
With a final record of 15-8-1, Edge Gold finished fourth in the seven-team league and will now host OHA Red in a best-of-three, first-round playoff series on the weekend of March 4-6.
Meanwhile, the Edge Maroon Mountaineers (18-3-2) clinched top spot in the CSSHL Varsity Division and earned a bye in the first round of playoffs.
Edge Gold goalie Tyler Robinson, who missed more than two months of the season with a concussion, made 42 saves to record the shutout against OHA Red.
Taysen Holt scored once and set up two others to lead the way offensively, while Tyler Perkins and Ryley Stormoen tallied a goal and an assist each. Jeremy McIntosh and Erik Pederson also scored.
The Gold Mountaineers went 2-for-8 on the powerplay, while killing off all 14 man-advantage situations that were awarded to OHA Red.
“We’re playing a better game and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we have a reasonable amount of players in the lineup,” said Atkinson. “We have things that obviously we have to get better at, but we’re certainly a good team. We’re still got some guys out. Before it was like a M.A.S.H. unit, but now we’re reasonable.”
With goalies Robinson and Jesse Shenton both out of the lineup earlier this season due to concussions, Atkinson recruited Edge student Spencer Gunning to fill in between the pipes.
“We ran him through the process to get him eligible to play and he filled in for us, but it was a challenge big time,” explained Atkinson. “He’s a great guy and he still practices with us.
We’re trying our best to treat him as a full-fledged team member and he certainly did us a good service.”
Jeremy McNeil led Edge Gold in scoring during the CSSHL season with 22 goals and 20 assists in 24 games. Holt (15g, 20a), Pederson (13g, 18a), McIntosh (10g, 18a) and Perkins (13g, 11a) also produced at more than a point-a-game clip.
Edge Gold will head to Phoenix to compete in the Under-17 division at the 2011 Presidents’ Day Invitational from Feb. 18-21. The Gold Mountaineers will play round-robin games against Team Arizona, the California Heat and the California Stars with their sights set on advancing to the playoff round.
“It’s a really good test for us,” said Atkinson. “We’re certainly going down there with the idea that we’re going to be able to compete to win it.” |