Andreea Resmerita – Leader Staff
The Thunderbirds were slated to play Cold Lake Sept. 27 for their fifth game, but had to forfeit the game due to the flu, said coach Jon Kramer.
“It’s disappointing for the players and coaches too. It’s the first time we’ve had to do it in the history of our program.”
Kramer explained that out of an original roster of 27, the team was down to 21 for the last game in Wainwright, finishing with 19.
“We thought we’d be okay because we thought we’d be getting a few guys back but the flu bug hit and the guys who were supposed to be back in time weren’t ready yet.”
With only 10 or 11 high schoolers at practice on Wednesday, they had to make the call to Cold Lake and cancel. The game would have been good for the T-birds to play since the Cold Lake team on par, giving them a chance to perhaps win one.
The full schedule, with a game every weekend, doesn’t allow for a rescheduling of the match, but Kramer said they might end up playing them in the play-offs, where the top four teams and the bottom three are split into A- and B-side.
“We expect that it’ll be us, Wainwright and Cold Lake (on the B-side) just by how the season has played out.”
The Friday night lights game is set for Oct. 4 against the Bonnyville Voyageurs, with a 7 pm kick-off. The big home game is when the whole community goes out of its way for the experience, with activities starting at 5 pm, all to support the Thunderbirds.
“You can’t really call it a perfect season when you’re 0 and 4, but we’ve got an excellent group of players and coaches. They just show up to practice every day, undeterred by losses or the scoreboard and they’re saying ‘what can we work on this week’ and we’ve been doing that consistently,” said Kramer, who is in his 13th year of coaching.
Following, the Thunderbirds will be driving down to Olds Oct. 11 for an exhibition game, and play-offs start Oct. 19 in either Wainwright or Cold Lake – it all depends on who loses. A win on the 19th would mean one more game on the 26th, also away.
