Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader

No provincial championships for Slave Lake’s two U13 teams, but a good showing and a great accomplishment in the first place qualifying for the season-ending tournaments.

The U13 #1 Thunder did best, advancing as far as Sunday’s semi-finals at the Tier 2 provincials in Rocky Mountain House. The U13 #2 Thunder, playing in the Tier 4 provincials in Sundre, did not make it out of the round robin.

Here’s how it went down:

U13 #1
The Thunder started out on the morning of April 1 against Trails West, a team from the Calgary area. The final score was 5 – 5.

Scoring the Slave Lake goals were Grayson Conrad with three and Owen Griffith with two. Goaltending stats are not included on the website.

Playing host Rocky Mtn. House later that day, the Thunder romped, winning 8 – 1. Conrad romped as well, scoring half of his team’s goals. Connor Beauchamp, Colby Churchill, Griffith and Dawson Taylor scored the others.

Slave Lake faced off against High Prairie on Saturday morning, winning 4 – 3. They had to come back from an early 3 – 0 deficit to do it. The comeback started about midway through the second period with a goal by Daniel Normand. Colby Campbell and Conrad followed up. Conrad got the winner in the third period

The 2 – 0 – 1 record was enough to put the Thunder into a Sunday morning semi-final game against Red Deer. It went 8 – 5 for Red Deer, ending the tournament for Slave Lake. Taylor scored one for the Thunder; Conrad the other four.

U13 #2
This tournament actually took place over four days, in Sundre. The Thunder got started on March 31 with a 3 – 3 tie with the Northwest Warriors, a Calgary team.

The Warriors led 1 – 0 for much of the game, but Slave Lake scored two in the first minute of the third period, courtesy of Brody Whitney and Chase Blanchette. Callum Lindsay scored to make it a 3 – 1 Slave Lake lead a minute or so later, but the Warriors managed to tie it.

Next up was a Friday game vs. the host Sundre Huskies. Sundre won 8 – 2. Blanchette and Nolan Beaupre got the SL goals.

Saturday’s game vs. the Sexsmith Vipers was the pivot point for the Thunder. Win and you might be in. Lose and you won’t be. The Thunder battled hard, but Sexsmith eked out a 6 – 5 victory. The game see-sawed back and forth, with one-goal leads changing hands. Arnold Broadfoot tied it at five late in the third with his second of the game, but Sexsmith had the last laugh.

Other Slave Lake goal scorers were Lindsay with two and Beaupre.