In the Zone 2 bantam finals, the Boyle Blazers have quickly established their dominance.
The Blazers welcomed the Smoky Lake Stars to the Millview Recreation Complex on Friday night for game one of the two-game, total points series. And with a berth in the provincial championships at stake, the welcome was a frosty one.
With a big crowd of friends, family and fans looking on, the Blazers wasted no time in taking control of the game as they dominated the play in the first period and scored four goals in the first 20 minutes of play.
Dallas Jackson was stellar with two goals and an assist, while Dylan Soroka and Alex Antal scored the other two first period markers.
The story remained the same in the second frame, with goals coming from Khalid Tourangeau and Tanner Wlos. Smoky Lake managed to score a goal of their own by the end of the period, but that still left them facing a 6-1 deficit with only 20 minutes of hockey left with which to erase it.
In the third period, Nolan Gallinger scored to make it 7-1 before Antal notched his second goal. One more goal from Smoky Lake sealed the 8-2 final score.
Antal added three assists to his two goals for a remarkable five-point effort. Other assists came from Ryan Kilar, Rylan Tkachuk and Wesley Thompson.
In the Boyle net, Mason Negraiff held the fort and made the big saves when his team needed them, which wasn’t often on this night.
As the score indicates, the outcome of the game was seldom in doubt from the first drop of the puck. The Blazers controlled the play for most of the night.
Controlling the game in that fashion was a priority, according to team captain Colton Nikipelo.
“This was the biggest game of the year, a chance to get to provincials,” he said. “It was intense. We’ve got a good lead.”
Given the format of the two-game series, the Blazers are now six goals ahead. Barring a remarkable comeback, Boyle would seem to be a lock to move on to provincials in Coronation next month.
But like any good coach, Boyle bench boss Mark Kilar wants his players to be ready, just in case. And there’s still one more game to be played against Smoky Lake.
With a six-goal lead to protect in game two this week, you might expect the Blazers to throw a defensive blanket over their zone and not play offense at all, but that’s not the plan according to the coach.
“We always play to protect our net, but if we hold back too much we go into a shell,” said the coach. “We’ll just play the game we’ve played all season. We’ve got a lot of firepower.”
This year would mark the fourth trip to the provincial championships for most of the Boyle team, including Nikipelo. So if they advance, they’ll know what to expect.
The teams that make it to Coronation will be just as talented as the Blazers, if not a little moreso. And all of them will be extremely motivated to earn the title of provincial champion.
But the Blazers are pretty motivated too, as Smoky Lake found out on Friday night.
“We’ve got to get up to a new level,” said Nikipelo, looking ahead to game two of the zone final as well as, hopefully, provincials.
“We’ll just play every period.”
