Due to lack of teams at their level, the Barrhead Midget A Steelers will not be playing in their regular 1660 league this season.
Instead, the Steelers will play in the North Central Minor Hockey Association, which is based out of the Red Deer area. Barrhead will face teams from Red Deer, Innisfail, Stettler, Panoka, Maskawacis, and Rocky Mountain House.
Whitecourt and Edson, from the Sturgeon - Pembina league, will also be joining Barrhead in North Central.
The Steelers played their third game of the year against Whitecourt’s Canadian Tire Wolverines Friday, Oct. 18, which ended their pre-season with a win of 7-2.
Though the boys took a well-deserved victory, the game didn’t begin the way it ended.
The game kicked off with the two teams quite evenly matched. After half a period of no scoring action, Whitecourt landed the first goal of the game.
With just under six minutes left, Barrhead player Brett Bujold made his move. With the assist from Nathan Schmidt, Bujold scored the Steeler’s first goal to tie the game 1-1.
The second period was much like the first. Both Barrhead and Whitecourt had equal opportunities to score, but came up short as the game continued with a tie on the board.
Fifteen minutes into period two, the Steelers amped up their game and put an end to the back and forth action.
Nathan scored his own goal for Barrhead, assisted by Aaron Wharton and Koby Adams.
Period three began with Barrhead in the lead with a score of 2-1. At just under 14 minutes Barrhead scored again, widening the gap with a goal by Zac Laun, assisted by Nathan and Eric Schmidt.
Although they were in the lead, the Steelers weren’t ready to stop. One minute later, Adams scored another one for Barrhead, assisted by Eric and Declan Kummer.
The crowd didn’t need to stop cheering for long, when mere seconds later Barrhead’s Nick Perdeams scored for the Steelers, assisted by Nathan.
With the score at 5-1, things were looking good for the Steelers. Though Whitecourt battled back, Barrhead was able to score yet again.
At the six minute mark, Bujold landed his second goal of the game, assisted by Perdeams and Eric.
The Wolverines made one final successful play against the Steelers less than one minute later, bringing the score to 6-2. However Barrhead would get the last word.
The clock showed three minutes remaining in the final period when the Steelers scored their last goal. Wharton, assisted by Adams and Brad Bujold, slipped the puck past Whitecourt’s goalie for a final score of 7-2.
Barrhead Steelers head coach Jason Murrell said he was happy with the boys’ performance Friday night, even if the start of the game was somewhat on the shaky side.
“The first period was a little scrambly, but that’s only our third game of the year,” said Steelers head coach Jason Murrell. “We’re still learning to play with each other.”
The Steelers have two wins on the board now, and one loss.
With the help of some players who were on the team last year, Murrell said the boys have been doing well at their practices so far this year.
“There’s a few guys from last year that have stepped up and taken a leadership role,” he said.
There are five players who played with the Steelers last season, and five who are first-year midgets. The rest played midget B last year, and have moved to the A team this year.
The Steelers play again in Barrhead this Friday at 8:15 p.m.
