The rivalry between the Barrhead Midget ‘AA’ Renegades and the Athabasca Winter Hawks reached a fevered pitch on Friday at the Agrena.
It was a physical contest from the drop of the puck until the buzzer sounded at the end of the game.
“These guys don’t really like each other,” said coach Kent Wingrove.
For the first two minutes of the game the Renegades looked a little nervous as the speedy Winter Hawks were skating seemingly just out of reach.
When the Renegades had a chance to lay a big hit, they obliged and followed through with their booming shoulders. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be enough as the Winter Hawks won 7-3.
The Winter Hawks broke up the deadlock with 1:57 left in the opening period when Chad Bell scored on a pass from Marc Terrien that slid through the legs of the Renegades’ defencemen before finding the back of the net.
Although the Renegades were the bigger team, the Winter Hawks showcased a flashier style of play, giving them the advantage in the first while outshooting the home team 19-11.
Throughout the second period, the game broke wide open with a total of six goals being scored.
Cole Hamilton would score for the Winter Hawks at 13:24 of the second when Renegades goalie Roy Ernst just missed with his poke check, putting him out of position to make a save.
Only 1:02 later the Renegades would join the scoring.
At 12:22 Jonathan Cyr would cut the deficit in half when he took a pass from Dayne Wingrove and picked the top corner of Dalten Lynde’s net.
Less than a minute and a half later, the Winter Hawks extended their lead back to two when Coulton Sheets scored from the side of the net.
Nathan Wood countered 14 seconds later by scoring with 10:55 left in the second when Judah Munoz made a sharp pass to find Wood open.
The offensive explosion of the second period continued when the Winter Hawks scored only 25 seconds later as Zach Davis let his wrist shot go, beating Ernst on his glove side
One of the prettiest goals of the game came with 4:55 left in the second when Vincent Frigon made a no-look pass through two sets of Winter Hawks legs to an open Wood, who sent a blistering shot over the shoulder of Lynde, ricocheting off the crossbar and into the net. Shots were 28-25 Winter Hawks after two periods.
The third period was all Winter Hawks despite a huge glove save by Ernst when Meghan Jonkman fired a shot from pointblank range at the 17:25 mark.
“The biggest thing is these guys have to learn they’re taking way too long of a shift. When you take too long of shift you’re beat and you don’t have any legs to come back and play defence,” said Wingrove.
By 15:15 of the third, the Winter Hawks had doubled their lead with two more goals, effectively doing away with any chance the Renegades had when they scored with 3:06 left.
“We just didn’t play our system,” said Wingrove.
