The Barrhead peewee ‘B’ Eagles are serving notice to remaining teams; be ready.
Westlock came into town last Thursday for Game 2 of their provincial playdown series with the Eagles, getting thumped 15-4.
“At this time of year, you want all three lines going – pass, pass, pass,” said Eagles coach Trevor Whiting.
Game 1 was all Eagles as they handily won 6-1 on Feb. 1. Game 2, on the other hand, bordered on the absurd.
It started like any normal game would: face off, skating and passing, but it quickly escalated, as the Eagles’ top-notch puck movement exploited Westlock’s lack of speed and cohesiveness all game.
“Our tick-tack-toe passing was the difference in tonight’s game,” said Whiting.
The opening period was tame compared to the second and third.
The Eagles opened the scoring at 15:18 when Tanner Whiting scored his first goal of the game and eighth of the 2010/11 playdowns on a pass from Brayden Bujold who carried the puck deep into the Westlock zone drawing the defencemen’s attention.
Whiting would score his second goal of the game at 11:14 when a Westlock defensive miscue left him open to score on a juicy rebound.
About four minutes later, Dustin Kochan took a pass from Dustin Weeks, snapping a low shot past a screened Westlock’s goalie Justin Blais on his glove side.
With 4:48 left in the first, Westlock answered with a goal of their own when Alex DeKock shot a seemingly harmless shot on net that Eagles goalie Zachary Munroe couldn’t squeeze. The puck trickled through his padding and found the back of the net.
At the close of the first, the Eagles were outshooting Westlock 14-5 and brandished a comfortable lead heading to the dressing room.
The Eagles’ offence exploded for eight goals in the second period.
Whiting completed his hat trick at 16:45 of the second when Blais couldn’t stop his wrap-around attempt.
Four other players got involved in the second-period offensive outburst.
Kyle Sommers potted his first goal of the game at 13:12, followed by Josh Starman at 9:57 and Jacob Politeski at 9:05. Sommers scored his second of the match on a pass from Bujold as he went streaking to the net from the face-off circle.
Cody Wegewitz, Sommers and Politeski added to the Eagle’s epic lead before the close of the second.
“I actually expected that explosion in the first; they’re a slower team, and when you pass you can make a slower team look bad,” said Whiting.
After two periods, the Eagles held a commanding 11-1 lead.
“If we play like this, we have a good chance, but we can’t take anything for granted,” said Whiting.
For the start of the third, Westlock decided to switch goalies, bringing in Tyson Zelinsky for Blais.
The change of goalies did nothing to stop the onslaught as the Eagles padded their lead by adding four goals, with two goals from Starman, one from Politeski and one from Bujold.
Westlock added three more of their own, but it was too little, too late.
More than 28 minutes in penalties were handed out in the third as emotions got out of control.
“Emotions take over and the other team tried to hit and our team had a very good passing game,” said Whiting.
