What a difference a year has made for the Barr-West Pirates Bantam ‘AA’ hockey team.
After slogging through a tough 2010-2011 season that saw them go 0-30-1, the Pirates are much improved with three wins in their first eight games this season after their Oct. 30 win over the visiting Morinville Mustangs.
The 3-1 win over the Mustangs was also the first home win of the season for the Pirates.
Co-coach Glenn Starman said he likes the makeup of this year’s team, which has a number of new faces who weren’t on the squad last year.
The new players are gelling well, he said, and some of that showed during Sunday’s game.
“The kids came out well in the first period,” he said.
However, that strong start didn’t translate into any goals as the Pirates failed to score on any of their 11 shots in the first period.
It took until just over seven minutes had been played in the second for someone to break the deadlock. Unfortunately, it was the Mustangs who did it, taking a 1-0 lead at 7:06.
That lead didn’t last very long, as Brandt Morris replied for the Pirates just 48 seconds later to knot things at 1-1.
The two teams played fairly evenly the rest of the second until the Pirates’ Carter Kyle scored with 2:09 remaining in the period to give his team a 2-1 lead. Bryan Fountain and Darien Cyre drew assists on the go-ahead goal.
In the third, the Mustangs came out strong pushing for the equalizer. However, each and every one of the 21 shots they threw at Pirates’ goalie Dylen Starman was turned aside as he kept his team out in front.
Finally, with only 3:09 remaining in the game, Zakrey Laun took a pass from Tyson Chizma and scored to give the home side a 3-1 lead and some breathing room.
From there on, Starman held the fort and the Pirates earned their third win of the year.
Coach Starman said after the game that he felt the forwards played a strong game and were aggressive all afternoon.
However, he recognized the less-than-stellar play the Pirates committed in the middle frame.
“We had some lapses in the second period and we weren’t responsible in the defensive end,” he said. “Luckily, we got it together in the third.”
Prior to Sunday’s home game, the Pirates were in Sherwood Park on Oct. 28 to take on the Leafs.
The result was a 6-0 win for the home side, but Starman said the score was not indicative of how the Pirates played.
He credited goalie Logan Branden with playing well in stopping 36 of the 42 shots thrown his way, and the rest of the team for competing hard.
