By Ryan Laverty /
With all due respect to coach Bill Laforge and his Sherwood Park Flyers, they are not, nor will they ever be confused with the 2008 New England Patriots.
With that said, the Flyers did hold one thing in common with this year’s Pats squad – an air of invincibility heading into a championship.
While Laforge’s crew couldn’t boast an undefeated season, the Flyers entered the best-of-five North Final in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League with only one loss and one tie on home ice all year.
So it made sense the Metro North Division’s top team was confident when the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers skated into town for Game 1 on Mar. 2. And it made sense Laforge’s players were a little shocked when the clock hit zero that night and the Rangers took the game 3-2.
“That was a great wake up call for our guys,” Laforge said. “I guess there was a bit of a feeling that we were invincible on our ice, but I think our guys realize now what they’re going to have to do.
“All the credit goes to (Fort Saskatchewan) because they came in here and they worked hard and beat us.”
Which was something the Rangers, who finished first in the AMBHL Rural North Division, couldn’t manage to do during three meetings with the Flyers earlier in the year. In their two regular season contests, the Flyers dropped the Rangers 9-4 and 4-3, while the two sides played to a draw in a tournament meeting.
With the series designed for alternating home dates, the Rangers’ road victory put home-ice advantage in their hands at press time. Meaning the Flyers would need to get back to their defence-first strategy to swing momentum and location back in their favour.
“You have to count on your horses at this time of year and for us that’s our defence and our goaltending,” said Laforge, noting his team allowed the second lowest number of goals against in the 22-team league during the regular season. “We need to do what got us here, which is take care of our zone and to initiate rather than retaliate.
“We only need one road win to get things back in our favour and I can say that the first game was probably one of our worst efforts of the year. I can’t promise results, but I can promise our effort will be better and from that we’ll just see what happens.”
Depending on the outcome of the South Final between the Airdrie Extreme and the Calgary Bisons, the winner of the Flyers-Rangers series could earn an automatic berth into the Western Canadian Bantam Championships, which the Extreme will host April 3 to 6. |