Initiation Chinooks host Coaldale and Lethbridge

Initiation Chinooks vs Coaldale Pre-Novice
J. Davis photos 

Josh Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Initiation Chinooks vs Pre-Novice Coaldale 2

On the morning of Saturday, January 19 Pincher Creek's Initiation Chinooks took to the MCC arena’s ice, playing the Coaldale 2 Pre-Novice team. Coaldale brought a very tight-knit team of only six players, while the Chinooks had twelve players and would routinely switch out their entire line-up.

#21 Paul Vandenelzen earned an early lead for Coaldale, scoring a hat-trick over the course of the first four minutes of gameplay. The Chinooks’ #12 Jayden Draper countered this, scoring the Chinooks first goal with 13:01 on the clock. The Chinooks took the only penalty of the game this period, and Coaldale’s #14 Sam Wegenast took advantage of it to score one goal at 10:16 during the power play. Wegenast followed this up at 9:16 with a second goal.


Coaldale’s big advantage this game was their skating. Jayden Draper scored his second goal of the game with 6:53 left in the first period. Coaldale would score another goal before Draper had a chance to earn his own hat-trick, making the final goal with only 43 seconds left on the clock. The period ended with Coaldale in the lead 6 – 3.

Coaldale’s #14 Sam Wegenast scored the first goal of the second period at 19:56, earning his hat trick. The rest of the period was hotly contested, with both sides working hard to keep control of the puck. With four minutes left in the second #7 Nathan Mitchell scored the Chinooks' fourth goal of the game. Chinooks #14 Lane Conley was assisted by #4 Walker Anderson at 2:16. Conley would score another goal just before the period ended, bringing the score to 6 – 7 in Coaldale’s favour.  A much better period for the Chinooks.

#4 Carter Opp scored Coaldale’s eighth goal unassisted about one minute into the third period. Opp would duplicate this feat again at 16:20, bringing Coaldale’s to a three point lead. At 10:40 #3 Conner Bangma brought that lead to four. The Chinooks did not, unfortunately, score any goals in the remaining half of the third period, and the game went to Coaldale with a final score of 6 – 10.

Initiation Chinooks vs Lethbridge Goldminers

The next morning, January 20, the Chinooks were back at it, hosting the Lethbridge Goldminers at the MCC arena.

Initiation Chinooks vs Lethbridge Goldminers
J. Davis photos and video

#12 Jayden Draper scored the first goal of the game for the Chinooks at 19:30. The Goldminers proceeded to lay on the pressure, scoring seven goals over the course of the first period. #12 Draper made the final goal of the period with four seconds left in it. The period ended with the Goldminers in the lead 2 – 7.

The Lethbridge Goldminers scored all three of their goals in the second within the first six minutes of the period. #14 Lane Conley scored a goal for the Chinooks at 12:10. Though the score may disguise it, the Chinooks were in better form than the day before. They were clearly giving it their all, and continued to play hard even in the face of a daunting lead by the Goldminers. The score was 5 – 10 at the end of the period.

The first goal of the third went to the Goldminers #15 Jayden Spence at 14:55. #6 Tobias Rempel made a goal with 6:20 remaining in the third. Admirably, the Chinooks were skating harder this period, and were aggressively stealing the puck from their opponents. The Goldminers managed to make one more goal with five minutes remaining on the clock, ultimately winning 6 – 12.

Chinooks Assistant coach Jason Draper suggested that the team would be working on skating, as well as defence. “The kids are doing good,” said Draper of the season so far. The Initiation team still has a couple of tournaments coming up, one in the Crowsnest Pass and another here in Pincher Creek.  Watch this space for dates and times.