Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader
Slave Lake’s U18 hockey team got off on the right foot on the opening couple of weekends of play. Three games – three wins. So far, so good.
For the U18s (formerly Midget), the game against Barrhead on Saturday, Oct. 9, was the tougher of the two. Barrhead had the edge early on, but the momentum shifted and by the end of the first period, the Slave Lake skaters were carrying the play.
The final score was 6 – 3 for the Thunder. Scoring for the winning squad were Nathan Hartman with two, Kolbie Courtorielle, Kris Courtorielle, Landen Horsley and Jethro Green. Salah Baalbaki saw 27 shots in the Slave Lake net.
The Oct. 10 contest had Athabasca in town, and it was not a close one: 13 – 2 for the home team. Kris Courtorielle led the way with two goals and three assists for a five-point outing. Paul Houle showed up with a hat trick. Kolby Courtorielle had a four-point effort. Baalbaki saw only 16 shots.
Head coach Jerod Hartman said rookie goalie Baalbaki did well. Another first-year U18, Kolby Courtorielle “was a standout for us this weekend.” Hartman added that Mitch Laboucan, Herman Derksen and Nathan Hartman were solid contributors as well.
It should be noted these are ‘tiering’ games. Based on the results of the first few weekends of games, teams will be assigned in groups with similar results; this should make for a regular season of competitive games.
This weekend, the Thunder play in Wetaskiwin and Winfield on Saturday, and in Maskwacis on Sunday.
U15
The U15 boys started a week earlier, beating Edson 4 – 2 on Oct. 3 on home ice. Oddly enough, Slave Lake scored most in the period where they had the fewest shots on goal (if the stats were correctly recorded). They scored once on 10 shots in the first period, and three times on five shots in the third.
Damian Hill, with two, Seth Myers and Koltin Davis scored for Slave Lake.
Jerzie Green got in the win in net for the Thunder.
On Oct. 16, the team played two games – against Killam in the morning and Wetaskiwin in the evening. They won both, by scores of 10 – 3 and 8 – 3.
This coming Sunday the U13s host Fort McMurray.
U13
Slave Lake’s U13 1 team outscored their opponents 26 – 4 in two games on the first weekend of October. They beat Barrhead 10 – 2 on Oct. 2 and then walloped Athabasca 16 – 2.
Kale Whitney led all scorers in the first game, with four goals and two assists. Grayson Conrad and Colby Campbell each scored four points.
In the game against Athabasca, Conrad broke out for nine points, with Whitney, Owen Griffith and Daniel Normand each having a five-point outing. Dayton Seppola was the winning goalie in both games.
