Novice barnburner: Chinooks and Blades deadlocked

Novice Pincher Creek Chinooks vs Picture Butte Blades
C. Davis photo/video

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

I tell you what, hockey people, the biggest crowd roars of the weekend were heard at last Sunday morning's barnburner at Pincher Creek's Memorial Community Centre arena.  Picture Butte's Novice Blades were in town to take on our Chinooks, and you'd be hard pressed to find two more evenly matched teams in this or any league.

I came in late (did I mention it was Sunday morning?), but in time to watch much of the second period, which rung out with 7-7 on the scoreboard.  Chinooks #3 goalie Eric Radvak was first to catch my attention, with a series of dynamic saves. It became rapidly apparent that the Chinooks were clicking as a team.  A lot of their goals were team-effort goals.  The Blades have some very strong offensive players and a solid defence. It was a freewheeling exhibition of purpose out there, both teams seemed to be fully in the game.

The game was tied repeatedly to finish in a 10-10 tie at the final buzzer.

Chinooks #4 Drew Stuckey got a hat trick +1 - four goals and two of them unassisted. #28 Mayz Vance got a hat trick and an assist. A hat trick for Jaydon Draper, who pulled out the stops this game.  Also earning assists were Aidan Potts, Varian Caldwell, Maddix Dyck, and Nathan Mitchell.

#12 Karsen Haney was a game changer for the Blades, scoring first and then three times more, all but one unassisted.  #19 Quade VandenDungeon pulled out his stops in the third period, scoring twice.  Leland Gellrich scored twice for the Blades.  Also scoring for the blades were Cameron Hillaby and Jaxon Nault.  Connor O'Donnell picked up an assist.

Pincher Creek's Novice Chinooks will be back on home ice at the MCC arena next Saturday morning, November 16 when they host Coaldale, starting at 10:30 am.