The Cold Lake Wings ended their regular season with a few bumps and bruises, but feel stronger as a team because of it.
Regardless of their trials and tribulations, the Western Provincial Hockey Association’s (WPHA) newly formed Wings fought tooth and nail for their successes.
Trey Beck celebrates his goal early in the game
They played their final game for a hometown crowd on Friday, March 15, when they fell to the Meadow Lake Mustangs 5-2 at the Cold Lake Energy Centre.
“I thought the game was pretty close. It was a 2-2 game mid-way through the second period. We had our chances to score, the puck didn’t bounce our way, and we’re short staffed as well with a couple of injuries and players that are sick. Overall, I didn’t think it was too bad of a game,” expressed head coach Marek Babic.
The Wings kicked off the scoring less than five minutes into the first period, with Jaydon Ryan finding the back of the net.
Meadow Lake responded with two of their own before the end of the frame.
Less than 30 seconds into the second, Trey Beck added his name to the scoresheet, tying it up 2-2.
The Mustangs pulled up their socks and scored two more, taking the lead 4-2 by the end of the period.
Less than seven minutes were on the clock when Meadow Lake landed their final goal of the night.
“I thought we could have played better. We had a short bench, and it’s just tough,” stated Ilias Okemow, who was watching the game unfold from the stands.
Heading down the ice is Johan Crowchild.
By the end of their regular season, the Wings had racked up 18 points with four wins and 35 losses.
Bonnyville-native Anson Smith said the team had some kinks to work out throughout the season.
“It was a little bit of a rollercoaster. We went through a lot of stuff, but we went through it as a team. I thought that we faced a lot of adversity, but that made us gel together really well,” he expressed.
Not only were the Wings a new team to Cold Lake, but so was the league itself.
This meant the team had to work hard to earn their fans.
“It can be tough getting people to come out and watch, because there’s also the junior B team here. There was a bit of a power struggle... We faced some things early on in the season that actually brought us closer together in the end,” stated Smith.
Babic agreed, “The league itself, the WPHA is a new league, especially up here, so a lot of people were hesitant to jump on board with something like this.”
Now, the Wings head into playoffs against Edson, with their first game on March 22.
Smith said if there’s anything the team needs to work on, it’s the mindset that they can pull off a win.
“Belief, and faith that we can win the game and we can do it. To me, that’s all there really is. Right now, we’re running low on confidence. We’ve only won one game lately, but I think if we can get past that, you would see a whole new team out there.”
One of the Wings’ younger fans watches the game unfold.
For Okemow, the team needs to be more disciplined and stay out of the penalty box in order to find success.
With their first season coming to an end, Babic is already starting to focus on what the future holds.
His plan is to utilize the WPHA’s ability to bring in foreign players, while continuing to work on the ones they already have.
“Letting people know in the area that we have quality hockey. This is a great opportunity for players who may not make the AJHL, but would like to get into high-level junior A hockey. I think this league is a great developmental league. That’s the picture we want to paint here, is this place is great for players who want to develop and more or less excel their hockey career.”
