The Athabasca Aces played their last game of the season on Saturday, but it was a memorable one.
The club lost game two of their best-of three, opening round North Central Hockey League playoff series to the Slave Lake Winterhawks by a score of 9-6 at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex on Saturday night. Coupled with their 8-3 loss in game one, the loss in game two eliminated the Aces from the playoffs and gave Slake Lake a ticket to the second round.
But the Aces didn’t go down without a fight. In fact, early on in the game it looked like they were destined to win and force a third and deciding game.
The Athabasca club stormed out of the dressing room and shocked the Winterhawks by scoring on each of their first four shots of the game, chasing away Slave Lake’s starting goaltender and setting the visitors back on their heels.
Andrew Skoreyko scored the first two goals for the Aces, and coupled with strong play from goaltender Jeff Creaser and the team’s impressive offensive punch, it looked like the Winterhawks would have a tough time getting back into the game.
But Slave Lake started to show signs of life later in the period and by the first intermission, they had crawled to within one goal of the Aces with a score of 4-3.
The Winterhawks tied the game early in the second, but the Aces answered back with a powerplay goal to take the lead back.
After that, however, the Aces once again suffered a second period breakdown that saw Slave Lake score four unanswered goals, charging ahead to an 8-5 lead.
The Aces brought their best effort in the final frame, but the deficit was too much and the Winterhawks sealed their 9-6 victory.
A large crowd turned out at the multiplex to cheer on the Aces in their attempt to tie the playoff series, and after the game coach Tony Kiselyk pointed to that crowd as one of the evening’s bright spots.
But losing wasn’t what the Aces had in mind.
“We had a really good start. It was everything we were looking for. It’s the start we needed to have,” said the coach. “That second period has been our downfall all year. We had too many mental lapses in the second and it’s too hard to come back.”
The coach thanked his fellow coaches as well as club staff, volunteers, the players and the fans for another year of Aces hockey and looked ahead to next season.
“We’re fortunate to play in this league.”
