The Olds junior B Stingers who came out of the locker room for the second period of play against the High River Heat on June 2 in Olds was not the same team that left the court after a disastrous first frame.
High River put away four answered goals in the first period before Olds notched its first point on the scoreboard thanks to a breakaway goal at 6:24 at the hands of Cale Brown.
The Heat would score twice more before the period was out and it appeared the game was a runaway for the away team.
But the Stingers team who seemed content with jogging down the floor and fumbling simple passes in the first exploded out of the gate in the second, coming within one point of the Heat before the frame ended with a score of 6-5.
The Stingers likely would have surged past the Heat in the second after High River was charged with a four-minute penalty at 5:54 and a two-minute infraction at 4:55 to give Olds a five-on-three advantage.
High River netminder Taylor Roy proved his mettle, however, shutting down a barrage of shots from the Stingers while his team was shorthanded.
At one bizarre moment, the referees ejected several High River fans who objected to the penalties after failing to call an apparent charging by an Olds player.
It seemed that momentum had shifted in the Stingers' favour and the squad tied it up at 16:48 in the third period when Kyle Bouma found Jason Harnack in front of the High River net and Harnack scored.
That was the last point Olds would tally, however, and the Heat went on to take the game, 10-6.
Stingers head coach Mike Bouma said his team was “sluggish” at the start of the game after coming off a 13-10 loss in Brooks the night before, where the team did not return to Olds until 2 a.m.
He blamed the team's failure to capture victory on running out of steam in the third period due to fatigue from the previous night's game and the solid performance from High River's goaltender.
“They put a lot of good plays together. The only unfortunate part for us was, they had a very good goalie.”
Bouma added the squad was “a little bit rusty” after a two-week break but the squad is now readying itself for the playoffs.
“We'll kick it in to high gear here in the next couple weeks and we'll be looking at going into the playoffs hopefully on a high note,” he said.
The Stingers now have a record of 2-6-0 and will next face the Lethbridge Barracudas in Lethbridge on June 8.
