COLD LAKE - The Cold Lake Aeros Jr. A hockey team started their regular season on Sept. 30 with a loss against the Hinton Timberwolves on home ice. The Aeros fell 5-4 in a valiant comeback effort that pushed the game to overtime, but ultimately the Aeros fell to the Timberwolves.
After one period, the Aeros were only down 1-0, courtesy of Hinton’s Chance Basaraba, who scored with just over a minute left in the period.
Penalty trouble cost the Aeros in the second, as Alac Rice extended the lead to 2-0 for Hinton. Cold Lake’s Cannon Sinclair scored over halfway through the period, assisted by Cade Shields. Noah White scored for Hinton again, but Sinclair was not to be beaten, as he tallied another one with five minutes left in the period, assisted by Jevonte Freeman and Lawson Grey, cutting the deficit to one.
Hinton’s Mitch Mann scored early in the third to bring the score to 4-2. A penalty by the same brought Shields a goal for Cold Lake, assisted by Anthony Rizzi. They then went on to score on a 4-4 situation, bringing the score also to 4-4. The goal was courtesy of Rizzi, with the help of Luke Sowpal who registered the assist.
Overtime was decided when a poor defensive play quite literally threw goaltender Nathan Van Rensburg to the wolves, and Hinton’s Austin Boser put the game to bed.
Aeros head coach Ryan Gruszka wasn’t thrilled with his team’s first period play.
“I really think the first half cost us the whole game. The first period was sloppy, there was zero intensity.”
He was much happier with the results from the halfway point. “Luckily, halfway through the game we really found our stride and it started coming together. We really turned it around. Overtime, three-on-three, it’s one of those things that just happens really fast, and it's tough to process. I’m really proud of the team, I think they did everything they could in the second half, but I think we just have to play a full 60 minutes next time.”
Vegreville Vipers Visit
Cold Lake went on to play another game on Oct. 1 against the visiting Vegreville Vipers, doing precisely what the coach wanted - playing the full 60 minutes. This time they won 5-4.
The Aeros start went much better, as Sinclair continued his strong play from the previous game, scoring less than a minute in. Vegreville’s Carson Pewarchuk and Isaac Pattren scored afterward to give Vegreville a 2-1 lead.
The two teams played musical chairs in the second, with the Aeros’ Parker Scobey striking first, assisted by Sam Oshanyk and Hadley Nakonechny, only for them to give the lead right back to the Vipers via a Dawson Bilyk goal. Cold Lake’s Sowpal capped it off with the assist going to Sage Courchene, to tie the game 3-3 going into the third.
Rizzi added some insurance early in the third, assisted by Colin Tingay. The Aeros then scored shorthanded, with a goal from Freeman, assisted by none other than Sinclair. Cold Lake proceeded to fall into a spiral of penalties, allowing Jacob Tourand to bring the Vipers back within one, but the home team held on for the win.
Coach Gruszka was far happier with the team’s game on Oct. 1.
“I think it was just getting out the jitters from the first game, we’re still learning each other as a team, we’ve only been together for a month. It started coming together towards the end of the game tonight, and we were able to get the job done.”
When asked about the number of penalties taken by the team - Cold Lake took three in the last five minutes of the Vipers game - Gruszka laughed.
“We’ll be taking care of that in practice. Probably the hard way,” said the coach.
Cold Lake’s next home game is Oct. 13 against the Hinton Timberwolves.
The Aeros are part of the Canadian American Junior Hockey League (CAJHL). Making up the league is the Barrhead Bombers, the Aeros, the Timberwolves, the Southern Alberta Mustangs, and the Vipers.
