by Stephen Dafoe
The Morinville Jets continued their winning ways early in the week with a 7-4 road win over the Beaumont Chiefs Oct. 28 but fell 5-2 on home-ice to the visiting 6-6-0 Stony Plain Flyers Sunday night.
The win and loss bring the Jets to an 9-4-1 record this season. With five games left until the midseason mark, the Jets are well positioned in points, both in their division and in the league overall.
This far into the season we see the Jets averaging five goals per game, which puts them in the top third in the league in terms of capitalizing on chances. But the club is giving up 4.31 goals per game, a situation that has made for a few close games on the winning and losing side of the equation.
But the Jets Oct. 2 8 road game to take on the Beaumont Chiefs was not one of those close calls. Although the first period looked like anyone’s game with a 1-1 finish after 20, the Jets quickly ramped up with another four in the middle frame to lead the game 5-1. Though the Chiefs came back hard with three goals in the final 20
minutes, the Jets ended the game with a 7-4 win.
Sunday night’s home-ice effort against the visiting Stony Plain Flyers was not another smooth effort for the Jets.
The team struggled through the first 20 minutes trying to catch a break, scoring only once in seven chances. The Flyers, on the other hand, picked up three goals for their troubles.
Heading into the middle frame with a 3-1 deficit, the Jets maintained their luck from the first and were unable to answer either of the Flyers’ pair of goals.
Trailing 5-1 at the beginning of the third period, the Jets managed to score another late on the period, but it left them three short of driving the game to overtime.
The Jets successes as a team have been in part due to the efforts of individual players. The club has two players in the league’s top 10 scorers. Tyler Hagel is currently sitting with 18 goals and eight assists in his first 13 games. Sitting in ninth slot is Brandon Dubuc with eight goals and 15 assists. Jets’ backstop Mike Brown is sitting in 16th spot in the league for goal tending with a 3.81 goals against average.
The Jets take to the ice Sunday night at 6:45 p.m. to face the North Edmonton Rad Wings. The club hits the road Nov. 12 for an 8 p.m. game against the Beverly Warriors.
