Following the organization's most successful season to date last year, the Cold Lake Ice picked up where they left off this past weekend, recording back to back victories on the road in the opening weekend of the new NEAJBHL season.
With a number of the organization's star players moving on in the off-season, it was very much a new look Cold Lake Ice, with 13 players making their Jr. B debut in the 4-2 and 11-1 victories over the St. Paul Canadiens and Killam Wheat Kings over the weekend.
In the absence of head coach and GM Neil Langridge, currently taking in a trip to Minnesota, it was left to assistant coach Corey Wandler to fire the team up for their opening two games and they certainly didn't disappoint, outscoring their opponents 15-3 to fire a real statement of intent that the organization will be on the hunt for a fourth consecutive NEAJBHL title come April.
Although the team got off to a winning start in St Paul, thanks in large part to a Dallas Ansell hat-trick, Wandler said the team didn't perform to their usual standards, but that he was pleased to see those standards return for the game against Killam on Saturday.
“We saw two completely different teams for the Friday game in St. Paul and the Saturday game in Killam,” Wandler said. “I'm not sure if it was jitters or nerves that got the better of the team in St. Paul, or if the guys just underestimated the opposition, but we certainly didn't play Cold Lake Ice hockey for the first two periods. But we battled through and towards the end of the third, we started to show what we were capable of and took the game to St. Paul, which was good to see.”
Dallas Ansell recorded his first three tallies of the season to go along with a Christian Nypower goal en-route to victory, before the team exploded with an 11-1 victory over the Wheat Kings, with Bonnyville local Zach Sylvestre leading the way with a hat-trick in only his second Jr. B game. Fellow rookies Brandon Cunningham, Connor Flynn and Ryan Rancier bagged their first goals of the season before Dallas Ansell added another pair to go along with lone goals from Christian Nypower and Chad Schulthiess.
“We had scoring across all four lines in the game against Killam, which is something we'll be looking for and relying on this season,” Wandler said. “Killam is never an easy place to go and we were down 1-0 after the first period, so for the boys to rally back and respond the way we did in the second and third period was fantastic. They showed the type of character, desire and compete level required to be a championship contender.”
With the Ice cruising midway through the third period, things took a turn for the worse with last year's rookie of the year Chad Schulthiess requiring medical treatment following what Wandler described as “one of the dirtiest plays he's ever seen in hockey,” resulting in a full-line brawl between both teams.
“Heading into the third, we continued playing our game and grabbed another goal to make it 6-1 and we could kinda of tell Killam were getting frustrated,” Wandler said. “But midway through, Chad had his back turned to play and one of (the Killam players) came flying past the blue line and threw an elbow into the back of Chad's head, who then smacked his head against the glass. He was knocked out for a few seconds and had to be escorted off the ice on a stretcher, which is never nice to see.”
Schulthiess was then rushed to the hospital in Killam before being referred to Edmonton for more check ups on Sunday. Wandler said he has since been released and, having escaped injury, will be looking to return to action in a couple of weeks.
Having recorded victories in their opening two games, the Ice can look forward to a mouth-watering tie against the undefeated Lloydminster Bandits, with the teams facing off at the Energy Centre this Friday. Wandler said it would be a great occasion for the team and the fans, as they will be raising their third consecutive championship banner prior to puck drop.
“It's huge for the team and for the organization that we got off to a winning start against St. Paul and Killam, we've got four points under our belt now and the guys sort of know what to expect for the rest of the year,” Wandler said. “It will make them stronger and make them realize that this is a grind, everyone needs to buy into the system and perform as a team. If we're going to do anything this year, it's going to be as a team, rather than depending on one individual player and I think everyone realizes that.”
He added, “but it will be good to get going here in Cold Lake, we get to show the new players what it's like to raise a championship banner and we're very excited to do that. At the same time, we need to realize we still have business to take care of as we come up against a very good Lloydminster team, who are off to a hot 4-0-0 start, so it's going to be a huge test for us, but one I know we're more than capable of (passing.)”
