Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader
The Slave Lake Icedogs are struggling at the moment, but help is on the way!
Head coach Gregg Kennedy told The Leader after Sunday’s 13 – 0 loss to Edson that three new players are expected in the next few days. Whether they can turn around the fortunes of a team that just isn’t very good at this point remains to be seen. But perhaps every little bit helps.
Also not helping on the weekend were a combination of injuries and suspension that had the Icedogs down to four defencemen, and other people filling in who aren’t used to playing certain positions. Add that to the fact Edson is a hard-working (harder than the Icedogs, if Sunday’s game is anything to go by) and fairly talented squad. They had the puck in the Slave Lake end for long stretches of time and got the goals to show for it.
Former Icedog Ilias Okemow was a prominent player for the Eagles, getting a goal and three assists – if the summary on gmhl.net is believable, which is far from certain.
Friday night the Icedogs played in Fox Creek, losing 6 – 1. One bright spot was Slave Lake goalie Connor Johnson, who was named third star. Johnson had a busy night, facing 52 shots. The fellow at the other end only saw 19 pucks.
Nolan Janvier scored Slave Lake’s only goal.
The Icedogs play in Gibbons on Friday night. On Saturday they host another first-year team, from Mackenzie, B.C. The Mountaineers have two wins and four losses so far this season.
