The Barrhead Midget ‘AA’ Steelers had a successful weekend, emerging victorious in both the games they played.
On Dec. 10, the Steelers were at home to the Fort McMurray Barons, and wasted no time in demonstrating who was truly the better team in an 8-0 whitewashing of the visitors.
“It was total domination,” said coach Greg Schmidt. “We played two periods of really good hockey in the first and second periods.”
The floodgates opened early for the Steelers, as Connor Tiemstra opened the scoring only 1:17 into the first period. Tiemstra’s second at 10:02 of the first doubled his team’s lead to 2-0.
In the second, the offence continued for the Steelers, as they pelted the Barons’ goalie with 22 shots. Of those 22 shots, three found the back of the net thanks to the efforts of Jake Chizma (6:44), Spencer Voight (9:06) and Chizma for the second time on the night (15:33).
Through two periods, the Steelers were up 5-0, but Schmidt said if it wasn’t for the Barons’ goalie, the score could easily have been in the double digits by that point.
“Their goalie, he was phenomenal,” he said. “He really kept them in it in the first period. He was stopping quality chances from close in.”
The third period was more of the same for both teams — many shots and goals for the Steelers and no offence from the Barons.
Voight notched his second of the game at 3:46, spelling the end of the Barons’ starting goalie’s night, and bringing in the backup.
That goalie change didn’t have much of an impact on the result, but he did his best to keep the score respectable. In the 16 minutes he played, the Barons’ second goalie faced 22 shots and only allowed two goals. Brandon Whiting put the Steelers up 7-0 at 8:00, and Dayne Wingrove put the finishing touches on the game at 15:23.
For the game, the Steelers put 68 shots on net, while the Barons forced Steelers goalie Brandon Ryan to make 21 saves for the shutout.
Leading the way offensively for the Steelers with four points each were Tiemstra (2G, 2A), Voight (2G, 1A) and Whiting (1G, 3A). Chizma chipped in with three points (2G, 1A) of his own. Wingrove recorded a single goal, while Nolan Schmidt, Jonathan Cyr, Colton Properzi and Brett Bujold each had one assist.
The Steelers were in Slave Lake on Dec. 9 to take on the hometown Thunder.
“It was a tight game,” Schmidt said of his team’s 6-5 win.
A look at the shots would indicate the Steelers should have won by a greater margin, but the Thunder were able to hold their own.
“It was a tough, physical game,” Schmidt said. “Slave Lake played a good game.”
It was the 3-2 lead the Steelers took into the first intermission that proved to be the margin of victory they needed. After the first period, both teams essentially exchanged goals, ending each successive period with the Steelers leading by one — 4-3 after two periods and 6-5 at game’s end.
The two wins give the Steelers a 13-3-2 record for 28 points and an eight-point lead atop their division.
They return to the ice Dec. 16 at home against the Northeast BC &Yukon Trackers.
The team is inviting all spectators to bring a donation to the game to go towards Santa’s Anonymous and the Barrhead F.C.S.S.
