BARRHEAD - The Barrhead Bombers dropped a pair of home games last weekend in dramatic fashion.
On Jan. 29, they lost 3-2 to the Hinton Timberwolves after going up by a pair of goals, the first coming in the first period from Gabriel Caron-Lalancette thanks to a nice pass from Joshua Kochan. His brother Maxime drew the second assist.
About four minutes into the second period Kochan would extend the Bombers lead with an unassisted goal.
Hinton then cut into the lead four minutes later with a goal by Todd Thompson. Former Barrhead Bomber Alac Rice tied the game at about the 12-minute mark of the third period. The Timberwolves acquired Rice shortly after the new year via a trade that saw the Caron-Lalancette brothers coming to Barrhead.
With just over three minutes to go in the game, Hinton sealed Barrhead's fate thanks to an unassisted goal by Marian Pazitka.
The night before, the Bombers lost to the Can-Am Junior Hockey League's top team, the Cold Lake Aeros 6-5, after squandering a three-goal lead. In the third period, the Bombers sported a 5-2 lead.
The Bombers faced the Aeros, where they once again found themselves trying to defend a 4-2 lead. Unfortunately for the Bombers, Cold Lake’s offense exploded scoring seven unanswered goals giving them the win.
Following the Hinton game, Bombers head coach Joey McEwan said he was concerned about his team's inability to hold leads.
"Holding leads has been something that has been a problem for us this year," he said. "We are a talented team, but we are young. I think we may be the youngest team in the league. Sometimes our excitement gets the better of us. We have to learn how to keep it all together and stay composed when things go against us, and one or two goals get scored against us when we do have the lead."
Unfortunately, McEwan said they also had the misfortune to face a Timberwolves team that was on a roll.
"They are on a hot streak. They have won five straight and are firing on all cylinders. To beat them, we needed to be at our best and play a full 60-minute game. And although the effort was there, we did have a few lapses, where we were more concerned about offense and let our defensive coverage slide."
However, McEwan said he is pleased with the progress the Bombers have made in a relatively short time. He said when he took over as bench boss in November after replacing Dave Hrysky, the first time they faced the Aeros, they were shellacked 14-1.
"We were able to stick with the first-place team," he said. "Cold Lake is the standard for the league. To see our young kids skate and compete with the best is very rewarding."
McEwan also noted the current group have only been together for a relatively short period, saying there are only about seven players left from the opening game roster.
"We have 12-13 new bodies, and it has really changed the culture of our team," he said. "We play a very exciting brand of hockey and if we can stop some of the mental breakdowns we are having at key times, through a lot of video, a lot of work and practice in our D-zone, to start cleaning up those mistakes we will be a real force come playoffs."
The Bombers next home game is against the Cold Lake Aeros on Sunday, Feb. 6.
