The Olds Midget Mustangs won two games and lost once in North Central Minor Hockey Association games last week. The wins came Thursday against the Red Deer Midget Kings Energy (9-3) and a 10-1 win against the Sundre Midgets Saturday. Sandwiched in between was the team's second loss of the year, against the Stettler Midget Legion (5-3).
The Stettler Midget Legion handed the Mustangs their only other previous loss this season, an 8-7 defeat on Dec. 10.
In Saturday's game against Sundre at the Olds Sports Complex, the home side jumped out to a 6-0 lead after 21:30 of play, at which point Jaydon Millard was pulled in favour of Cole Smith. Both Colton Anderson and Riordan Oulton had two goals each, while Cory Lamboo and Austin Pedersen also had goals before Colton Martyn broke the goose egg for Sundre at 12:38 of the second period.
Other Mustangs goals came from Tyler Maja (power play), Nishlan Naidoo and a pair from Josh Hammer (including one on the power play).
Following the game, Joel Hunter, the Mustangs coach, said the game plan was to come out strong against Sundre, a tier 2 team (the Mustangs are a tier 4 team).
"Against those kind of teams, if you get up early on 'em, they tend to kind of sit back and not come as hard as they normally would. We wanted to definitely lead right off the bat and just put 'em away early, just so that they don't really get a chance to get into it,î he said.
Sundre brought their physical game with them, which continued well after the game was in hand for Olds. Naidoo said it was a tougher game for the Mustangs to play as they are not used to the level of physical play that Sundre brought to the game.
"They kind of took it to us but we kept to our strong points, which is using our speed and skill and getting the puck deep and working from the offensive zone,î he said.
In Friday's loss, the Mustangs found themselves in unfamiliar territory this season, down 3-0 after one period. While the Mustangs responded with two early goals in the second, Naidoo said they never really got on track.
"We were just a little too comfortable and Stettler kind of took it to us and we didn't really know how to react,î he said.
Hunter said the team got off to an uncharacteristically slow start against Stettler. Even though he felt the team won the next two periods, it wasn't enough to overcome the first period.
"We came back and won the last two periods. (The play) was mostly in their ends, we just couldn't get a bounce,î he said.
The Mustangs were also successful in their first game on the way to the provincial championships with an 11-1 win on Jan. 22 over the Airdrie Midget AA team. Because the Mustangs won by such a wide margin, the two teams won't have to play again.
Next up in provincial playdowns for the Mustangs are games against a team from Cochrane and either Brooks or Strathmore. Both those matchups are two-game, total goal series, with the winner earning the zone spot at provincials, which will be held March 15 to 18 in Slave Lake.
"They kind of took it to us but we kept to our strong points, which is using our speed and skill and getting the puck deep and working from the offensive zone."Nishlan Naidoo, member, Olds Mustangs
