The Olds Midget Mustangs clinched a berth at the provincial midget championships on Wednesday with a convincing 9-1 victory over Cochrane. The Mustangs won the two-game, total goal series 13-2 to clinch the berth.
The provincial championships will be held March 15 to 18 in Slave Lake.
Mustangs coach Joel Hunter said the Mustangs moved the puck well, outworked the opposition and kept their feet moving in the offensive zone, leading to the excellent result.
“We played the way we should have played the first game against them. We were moving the puck really well and when we got it down into their end, we just kind of outworked them … and it opened up a lot of opportunities, and when we got the opportunities, we took advantage of them,” Hunter said.
“It was a good solid game. We wanted to make sure that we didn't leave any doubt about it and we did do that,” he said.
The Mustangs went one for seven on the powerplay, with Clinton Armitage getting the goal, while the team also had two short-handed goals during the game.
“Our penalty killers were unbelievable. Cory Lamboo played really well, Austin Pedersen played really well, just our whole penalty killing unit played really good,” Hunter said.
The team was due to play its last three North Central Minor Hockey Association regular season games on the weekend (Saturday at home against the Stettler Midget Legion, Sunday in Viking against the Viking Gas Kings Midgets and a game against the Ponoka Midget A team Monday). The games, especially against the Stettler squad (who handed the Mustangs their only two losses of the season), would decide whether Stettler or Olds finished first in the Nugent Division. Each team had 34 points going into weekend action.
Meanwhile Stettler had two games left heading into the weekend, while the Rimbey Midget Renegades, the leaders of the Hopkins Division with 30 points, had two games remaining as well. The Mustangs' playoff opponent would be determined following weekend action.
Hunter said the team isn't looking past league playoffs to the provincial berth.
“We have to win the playoffs first (to gain confidence), so we're not looking past that. We want to make sure we win the league, because with how good we've been doing this season, you want to finish it (strong),” he said.
"It was a good solid game. We wanted to make sure that we didn't leave any doubt about it and we did do that."Joel Hunter, coach, Olds Midget Mustangs
