BARRHEAD - The Barrhead Bombers won their fourth game of the season, defeating the Vegreville Vipers 5-4 at home on Oct. 27 in a match-up where they led most of the way.
Barrhead opened the scoring against Vegreville just short of the six-minute mark of the first period on a goal by Riley Doerkson, assisted by Jordan Martens and Ryder Bohn.
The Vipers would tie it up two minutes later before Christopher Vinck, assisted by Martens and Jackson Rufiange, on a power-play and Travis Gullion, assisted by Marco Russo, put them ahead 3-1 to end the period. Barrhead outshot the Vegreville 16-14.
In the second period, the teams exchanged goals, the first by Barrhead by Justin Noskiye, assisted by Sawn St. Arnaud. Vegreville's goal would come with just over two minutes left in the period. The Bombers also outshot the Vipers for the 15-13.
In the third period, the teams would exchange goals again, with Barrhead's on a marker by Doerkson, assisted by Lane Nolin and Ryder Bohn, at the 14:24 mark, shortly before Vegreville's final goal.
Westlock's John Zeise stopped 32 out of 36 shots for the win.
Head coach Mario Haase said the Vegreville game was their most complete of the season.
He said the week leading up to the game, the Bombers had a series of very productive practices in which they had several "professional conversations" on how they needed to approach the next three-game section of the season.
However, Haase said having professional conversations is nothing if they do not back it up with professional performances.
"And that is what we had tonight from minute one to minute 60," he said.
Haase said their performance is something he and the coaching staff always knew the squad had the potential, but they also understood that it would be a building process.
"We are still a young team, and things like this do not come overnight. It is a process," he said.
But having said that, Haase noted they did not play the perfect game, adding they still had things to clean up, stating they did have some breakdowns in defensive coverage that led to Vegreville being able to pot a goal or two.
"But then again, when facing players as talented as [Carson Pewarchuck and Dawson Bilyk], it is tough to eliminate all their chances."
Haase added that the other teams are starting to take note of the strides the Bombers are making, and they are no longer able to "surprise teams".
The next night, the Bombers suffered an overtime road 4-3 loss to Hinton Timberwolves before rebounding the next afternoon and handing the T-wolves their first loss of the season in a lopsided 6-2 affair largely on the strength of a dominant second-period performance where they scored three unanswered goals and outshot Hinton 20 to 6.
The Barrhead Bombers next play the Southern Alberta Mustangs in a pair of home games on Nov. 4 and 5.
