COLD LAKE - The Cold Lake Aeros continued their season at home on Nov. 19 with a 6-3 loss against the visiting Vegreville Vipers.
Cold Lake initially came out quickly, with team captain Cade Shields scoring less than four minutes into the game, assisted by the team’s leading scorer, Anthony Rizzi.
Carsten Campbell tied it up a few minutes later, however the Aeros kept the pressure on as Rizzi scored his own goal, assisted by Luke Sowpal and Lawson Grey. They scored once more before the end of the period, courtesy of Cannon Sinclair and assisted by Jevante Freeman and Colin Tingay. They weren’t able to escape the first period with the two goal lead, though, as Braden Van De Kraats managed to put one in before the end of the first.
Cold Lake ran out of steam in the second period, as the Vipers dominated, scoring three goals. Patrick Borque scored early to tie up the game, followed by another goal a minute later from teammate Dawson Bilyk. The last goal came from Ryan Drake, who scored when almost all players were distracted by a scrum in the zone.
Despite Cold Lake’s best effort and slew of chances, the third period was uneventful, until the last minute when Cold Lake pulled the goalie. Unfortunately, after Cold Lake won the face-off, the puck deflected off the boards and ended up going into their own net. The goal was credited to Colby Warawa, to cap off his three-point night.
Vipers' goalie Jaeger Fazakas was pulled in the first period after letting in two goals on 10 shots for a .800 save percentage. His replacement, Bence Pal, came in and stopped 32 of 33 for a stellar performance of a .970 save percentage.
Cold Lake goaltender Adam Hedges let in five on 21 shots, for a .808 save percentage.
Cold Lake captain Cade Shields wasn’t very fond of his team's performance and overall teamwork in the second and third periods, despite having a good first period.
“In the first period we were all gelling together as a team, we had each other’s backs, we were talking a lot. In the second period we all came out pretty flat. There’s not much to it, we just really didn’t play our game. We stopped playing in the second, and it came back to bite us in the butt," he said.
Cold Lake was supposed to play three days in a row, however collected two wins without playing a single minute as the Southern Alberta Mustangs had to forfeit two games due to excessive injury and not being able to ice a competitive roster. Shields pointed out that it may have killed a bit of the team’s momentum, but at the same time wasn’t going to make excuses for his team.
“We play very well together when we are just loose and happy. It doesn’t help that we had two days off, I haven’t had two days off the entire time I’ve been here, so everyone was a little bit out of it, but I’m not going to make that excuse for everybody. But at the same time, we’re all brothers and we’re a family, so we come together at the end of the day to have a good time and try our hardest together.”
Shields now has 30 points in 20 games, second for the Aeros. The team's point leader is Rizzi, who leads the Aeros with 46 points in 20 games.
Cold Lake is now sitting in first in the Canadian American Junior Hockey League (CAJHL), one point ahead of the Hinton Timberwolves in the standings, as of Nov. 23. The Vipers are in third place.
