INNISFAIL – It may not have ended the way they wanted, but it was still a great season for the Innisfail Atom A DQ Flyers.
The flyers hosted Games 1 and 3 in the best-of-three Central Alberta Hockey League (CAHL) quarter-finals against the Red Deer Chiefs at the Innisfail Arena Feb. 23 and March 2.
The home team lost a close battle 8-6 in game one but rebounded Feb. 24 with a thrilling 6-5 overtime victory in game two and earned a 4-3 decision on March 2 at home, to take the quarter-finals two games to one.
“We’ve played Red Deer all year. They’ve been really good,” said Brett Kelly, head coach. “We beat them a couple of times and they beat us once (in the regular season) and they’ve now beat us twice.
“They’re a good team. They’re well coached,” he added, noting Chiefs coach Steve Jackson.
Game 1 at home Saturday got off to a slow start.
“We just had a weekend off. In the first period we came out a little bit slow and Red Deer was good,” he said. “That really hampered our chances a little bit but we started to push (back).
“They scored a couple of late goals (in the third period),” Kelly added, noting how the game got away from them in the final minutes with Red Deer ultimately widening their lead to 8-5 before Innisfail scored their final goal.
Innisfail took Game 2 in a thrilling 6-5 overtime win with a goal from Josh Sikkes.
“Our guys are going to come out (and play their best),” said Kelly, after Game 1 Saturday. “We have to be well prepared. The kids have to be well rested and when they come to the rink they got to be focused and ready to play.”
After winning the quarter-finals, the team couldn't get past the Carstairs Bruins in the Central Alberta Hockey League semi-finals and Innisfail fell two games to none with back to back losses, 9-5 and 7-5 on March 3 and March 9.
Kelly said it was a great regular season for the DQ Flyers.
“The season’s been really good. It’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “We’ve worked a lot on skill development this year, we’ve worked on just making them better hockey players in general.
“I love to see how much the kids improve the whole (season),” he added, noting skills they’ve developed including passing, shooting and skating.
In addition, the Atom A DQ Flyers were zone four finalists at provincials, but lost provincial playoffs to Blackfalds earlier this season.
