Chris Clegg
South Peace News
A trip to Spirit River to play the Rangers used to result in a long and sad trip back home for the Falher Pirates.
For almost 30 years, since 1995 to be precise, the Pirates have made the trek down Highway 49. Fifteen times they went, and 14 times returned home with losses.
Until last weekend when it was time for a bit of payback!
The Pirates whipped the Rangers 6-1 to end a streak of four straight losses in Spirit River and 14 of 15. It was the 23rd meeting in Spirit River between the clubs with the Pirates winning only three times: the other wins were 9-5 on Nov. 21, 1995 and 3-2 in a shootout on Jan. 10, 2015.
Needless to say, the win felt good. Very good.
“It’s nice to see the players get rewarded for a hard-fought game, and in a rink that hasn’t always been friendly to us,” says coach Dan Aubin.
And the fact the Pirates took over first place in the East Division (see standings on page 22) over the Manning Comets made it that much sweeter.
Pirates’ goaltender Ryan Noble was outstanding making 49 saves on 50 shots.
“Our team played a simple game last night and we had exceptional goaltending from Noble,” says Aubin.
“Spirit River had about 15/20 quality scoring chances for sure, but our goaltender was able to make key saves at key times.”
And for once the Pirates scored first and never trailed. Dallas Brochu scored the only goal of the first period. In the second, Kevin Monfette scored what proved to be the game-winner. The Pirates salted the game away just past the midway point of the period when Isaiah Letendre and Brochu scored 22 seconds apart to make it 4-0.
Justin Todd scored with 2:33 left to give the Rangers some life but Letendre’s second goal of the night with only four seconds left in the period took the wind out of the Rangers’ sails.
Darren Kramer, who assisted on two earlier goals, added the Pirates’ sixth goal in the third. He was also busy showing the Rangers that the Pirates would not be pushed around. He took two roughing penalties, a roughing after the whistle penalty, and got involved in a fight in the third period with Brad Lazoruk.
“All of our goals came off of odd-man rushes, so we capitalized on our opportunities which has been a challenge for us this year,” says Aubin.
And the penalty killing units continue to excel at a record pace. After setting a league record last season (from available statistics), the Pirates skunked the Ranger on six chances and are again threatening to set another record this season
“Our PK has been a great source of pride over the last couple seasons and players who are on those units work extremely hard and feed off of each other,” says Aubin.
“I’m happy we are having success in that area of our game.”
The Pirates play at Valleyview Jan. 12 and return home to face Grande Prairie Jan. 13.
“We are looking to build off of this game going into next week’s two games,” say Aubin.
“I don’t feel that we are playing at our best yet, we still have some injuries that we are dealing with and some guys are just coming back off of injuries trying to get into game shape.
“Our team is certainly trending in the right direction and I look forward to the challenges ahead,” he concludes.