Atom Chinooks: big finish to regular season, lose to Blades in Provincial playdowns (updated)

Chinooks vs Blades
J. Jackson/C.Davis/T.Lucas photos and videos

Atom Chinooks vs Raymond and Irvine

Joey Jackson

Atom Chinooks vs Raymond

The Atom Chinooks finished off their regular season with a few big wins to end it with an excellent record. The Chinooks won their last two regular season games with a 4-2 win over Raymond on Saturday February 21st at the MCC, followed by a  4-3 win against Irvine at the Irvine rink on Sunday the 22nd.

Riley Potts had a huge night for the Chinooks to help them to the win over Raymond.  He scored all 4 goals, spread throughout the game, and scored his last two less than a minute apart. Koltyn Kipling had a great game in net, keeping everything out until midway through the third, his biggest stop of the night coming off a breakaway during a Chinooks penalty in the second. Ty Fraser scored Raymond's two goals, both coming late in the game to give Raymond some life to try to get back into the game.

Travis Bastien of the Chinooks takes a shot during game against Blades

Provincial playdown - Atom Chinooks vs Picture Butte Blades

Toni Lucas

The Atom Chinooks hosted Picture Butte's Blades for a Zone 5 Provincial playdown finals game on Tuesday, February 24 at the MCC arena.  It was a tight, clean game with lots of support in the stands for both teams.  The Blades outscored the Chinooks 2-1 in each of the first two periods.  In the third period Chinooks staged a comeback, with Chinook Cory Dyck tying the score 4-4 with 5:42 left on the clock.  Hunter Vanvaerenbergh of the Blades scored the game winner with 4:18 remaining, the Blades taking it 5-4.

Riley Potts was the other Chinooks scorer in this game, earning himself another hat trick.  Chinooks assists came from Brody Crosschild (2 of them), Colton Kirkman, Travis Bastien, Kieran Randall, and Mayz Vance.  Blades goals came from Ryan Holm (2 goals), Karsen Haney, Logan Hillaby, and Hunter Vanvaerenbergh.  Logan Hillaby earned two assists, and Treven Stoeve of the Blades also earned an assist.

The Chinooks and Blades played the second of two games on February 26 in Picture Butte. The Chinooks lost 5-4 to the Blades after a close game that saw the two teams tied 3-3 going into the third period.  The Blades move on and Provincials are over for the Chinooks.

The Atom Chinooks have two Spud League playoff games scheduled for this weekend against Vauxhall. The first will be held at Pincher Creek's MCC arena on Saturday February 28 starting at 11:45 am. The second will be held in Vauxhall the next day, Sunday March 1, starting at 4:00 pm. The Chinooks played well against Vauxhall earlier in the season, winning all 3 meetings against them, but however they haven't played since mid January which means they shouldn't count them out yet, as both teams have improved since then.

The Atom Chinooks ended their regular season with 11 wins and 4 losses, for third, 2 points behind Picture Butte and 2 points behind Raymond.  Those were definitely the strongest three teams this season.  Raymond's two losses came from the Chinooks and Picture Butte, so anything is possible in playoffs this year.