Whether winning or losing, the Athabasca Aces did nothing halfway last weekend.
On Friday night in Slave Lake, they were beaten soundly by the league leading Winterhawks by a score of 9-0. But at home in Athabasca on Sunday afternoon, they welcomed the Hinton Heat to the Multiplex and came away with a convincing 12-3 victory.
“We had a tough start Friday in Slave Lake. They’re the number one team and they played like it,” said Aces head coach Tony Kiselyk. “They’ve got no weaknesses. 9-0 speaks for itself.”
If the Aces goal for Sunday’s game was to forget all about their loss to Slave Lake and move forward, they certainly accomplished it. Hinton is behind Athabasca in the North Central Hockey League standings, so they offered less of a challenge than the dominant Winterhawks. But the Aces weren’t taking them for granted.
“There are no easy games,” said the coach.
The game against Hinton may have qualified, however, as the Aces scored early and often to run away with the game. Putting up big numbers for Athabasca were Shaun Kiselyk (two goals), Andy Skoreyko (three goals, two assists), Travis Duperron (one goal, five assists) and Troy Tangedal (three goals, one assist), though a number of other Aces also got on the board.
The team also benefited from another strong effort from goaltender Jeff Creaser, who turned aside all but three of the 42 shots he faced.
The Aces accomplished all this despite missing some of their best players and icing a depleted team on Sunday.
“It was a nice rebound. It’s nice to score some goals,” said the coach. “I’m very pleased with today’s result.”
The Aces now turn their attention to the coming weekend, during which they will play two of their three remaining regular season games. On Friday night they’ll be in Legal to take on the Vipers. Then on Saturday night they’ll play host to the Drayton Valley Wildcats at 8:30 p.m.
“We need to play well next weekend,” said Kiselyk.
Legal is right behind the Aces in the standings and Drayton Valley is in second place. The immediate goal for the Aces is to lock up home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, for which they’ll need to finish no lower than fourth in the standings. They’re currently tied for third.
But the ultimate goal isn’t home ice.
“Being successful is to get past the first round, and get on a little bit of a roll,” explained the coach, noting the team has yet to win a playoff series in its existence.
The regular season will wrap up on Jan. 27 when the Aces host the Winterhawks.
