Suns battle Chiefs tough

Taber midget “AA” Golden Suns (6-15-2) nearly pulled off the huge upset coming off the Christmas break in a 6-3 loss to the co-top team in the north division in the Wheatland Chiefs (14-6-2) on the road on Friday.

Smothering the Chiefs for two periods defensively, the Suns held a 3-2 lead until the third period in which they gave up four unanswered goals.

“We just worked them really hard. We were playing so well defensively holding them to what we wanted. We were matching them, we would hem them in their end for awhile where we never gave up any really solid scoring chances for them to cash in. We were playing pretty solid,” said Derek Wiest, co-coach of the Taber midget “AA” Golden Suns. “I thought we had a really solid 40 minutes where I was pretty proud of that with the effort they put in. The last 20 minutes, they are a very good team where they got a couple right off the bat and we just couldn’t get the momentum going after that. Still, it was a pretty solid effort for our first game back after Christmas. We were very close and being one of the top teams in the league, it showed we can play with anybody.”

Brayden Chambers had a goal and an assist in the loss. Travis Stoperski and Colton Gorda both had goals and Calvin Swanson registered an assist. Dylan Swanson faced 51 shots on net in the loss.

Taber midget “AA” Golden Suns host Sylvan Lake Lakers on Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Taber Arena before hitting the road on Sunday in a tilt against Red Deer.

“We have to start getting points here where we would really like to catch Foothills who have pulled away from us a bit (in the south division). Anything is possible with the team we have,” said Wiest. “We are getting some of our key injured guys back and other guys are starting to mold into the system really well and playing better than they had earlier in the season. We are heading in the right direction.”

BANTAM: Taber bantam “AA” Golden Suns (9-11-4) earned a split in SCAHL play over the weekend, competing against both Red Deer programs.

The team opened the weekend with a 5-3 win over Red Deer Ramada (6-17-1) at the Taber Arena on Friday.

Brant Mack had the hat trick and Brock Palmer had a goal and two assists. Linden Gouw rounded out the goal scoring for the Suns. Logan Wiebe drew two assists and Clay Leismeister, Reed Odland and Logan Kiss all had single helpers. Scott Tersteeg faced 25 shots on net to earn the win.

“On the Friday game, we came off the old turkey legs (from the Christmas break) for sure. It was a little bit scrambly for both teams, but they settled down in the third period and played some hockey,” said Duane Nevil, co-coach of the Taber bantam “AA” Golden Suns.

Taber bantam “AA” Golden Suns looked to be controlling the early portions of its Saturday home game against Red Deer Steel Kings (7-10-5), jumping out to a 1-0 lead before falling 5-1 despite outshooting the opposition 45-35.

Wiebe scored the lone Suns tally with assists from Palmer and Mack. Blaise Unruh took the loss facing 27 shots before being pulled.

Taber bantam “AA” Golden Suns hit the road this weekend with a doubleheader against Southwest Rockies on Saturday and Sunday.

“We’re hoping to get a couple wins up there for sure. Down a key defenceman and forward for the year, the rest of the team is going to have to fill some spots here and there,” said Nevil. “I see that coming with other kids from third-line positions coming up to the second line, and second-line kids coming up to the first which is a good thing to see. I think things look bright for the second half of the season.”

PEEWEE: Taber peewee “AA” Golden Suns (7-14-2) skated to a 9-4 win over Medicine Hat Venom Black (2-17-1) in a Saturday SCAHL road game.

Dylan Nevil had the hat trick to go with two assists in the win. Kalem Haney had two goals and an assist. Scoring singles were Tristan Miller, Mason Sande, Josh Conley and DJ Tonin. Derrien Tonin had three helpers and Spencer Dorge and DJ Tonin both had two helpers. Single assists went to Ryden Rempel, Kolby James, Conley, Darian Virostek, and Sande.

Brayden Peters faced 24 shots to earn the win.