It took a third-period comeback, but the Barrhead Midget ‘AA’ Steelers remain undefeated in Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League play with a 4-3 win over the visiting Edge Maroon Oct. 14 at the Agrena.
“We had a really good third period,” said coach Greg Schmidt.
Heading into the third, the Steelers trailed the Edge 3-1, but managed to storm back with three goals, the last with only 19 seconds on the clock, to emerge victorious.
It all started with a big penalty kill to start the period, Schmidt said.
“That first PK in the third was huge,” he said. “We were down 5-on-3 and we killed it off. We got a lot of life off that.”
The Edge opened the scoring 7:04 into the first period. Just over seven minutes later, Jake Chizma tied it up for the Steelers at 14:40, with Nolan Schmidt drawing an assist. However, with only 32 seconds remaining in the period, the Edge struck again to take a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
In the second, the Edge scored the lone goal to take a 3-1 lead. But the real story of the period was how chippy the game became. In total, 13 penalties for 42 minutes were called, which really hampered the flow of the game for the Steelers.
“We had a very undisciplined second period,” Schmidt said. “It was almost our downfall.”
Starting the third down two players, the Steelers nonetheless went to work trying to score and shut down the Edge.
The comeback started at 10:14 when Jorrey Jensen scored on the powerplay to cut the Edge’s lead to 3-2. Schmidt and Corey Mercier tallied assists on the goal.
Brandon Whiting tied the game 3-3 when he notched the Steelers’ second powerplay goal of the game at 13:44, with Brett Bujold and Mercier recording assists.
The Steelers completed the comeback with only 19 seconds remaining on the clock when Connor Tiemstra put the puck in the back of the net following a goalmouth scramble. Spencer Voight drew the lone assist on the winning goal.
The Steelers were also on the ice in Edmonton on Oct. 16 to take on SSAC Lakewood Chevrolet.
After jumping out to a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, the Steelers pumped four goals into their opponents’ net in the second en route to a 5-2 lead through two periods.
In the third, they added to their lead, making it 7-2 before the two teams traded goals 37 seconds apart, making the final 8-3.
Overall, the Steelers fired 55 shots at the SSAC goalie, while Steelers goalie Brandon Ryan faced only 25 for the win.
The Steelers return to the ice on Oct. 21 at the Agrena to take on the visiting St. Albert Crusaders.
