Shorthanded peewee Suns knock off top South team

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Taber Times

By Greg Price
Taber Times
gprice@tabertimes.com

Taber peewee “AA” Golden Suns had a solid weekend of South Central Alberta Hockey League play as it took two out of three games.

Minus its captain Colby Garner who is recovering from a concussion, the Suns (8-7-2) earned a 6-5 road victory over the South Division leading Lethbridge Hurricanes White (11-4-5) on Friday evening. It comes on the heels of the peewee Suns battling the North Division leading Airdrie Lightning to a 7-7 draw the previous weekend.

“It always hurts when you lose your captain, but through that adversity we came back against top-level competition two straight weekends,” said Cam Cleland, head coach of the Taber peewee “AA” Golden Suns.

Nathan Verloop and Rylen Roersma each tallied twice with Carson Cleland and Nolan Price notching singles. Verloop also had two assists with Price, and Carson Haynes getting single helpers. Brenden Olson faced 35 shots on net to earn the win.

Taber peewee “AA” Golden Suns proceeded to drop a 4-3 decision to Okotoks Oilers Green (8-7-3) on the road on Saturday.

“We started off soft giving up three unanswered goals in the first period, then we regrouped and evened up the game in the second period,” said Cleland. “They got an early goal in the third period, then we put a lot of pressure on and jammed them in their end. We had some good chances and scored a goal with about 1:40 left, but they disallowed it which is unfortunate. It was a legit a goal, but it was one of those things where the referee lost sight of it and waved it off.”

Price potted two goals and Roersma had a single. Wyatt Broderson, Roersma, Haynes and Cleland had assists.

Scout Sidam took the loss in net, facing 21 shots.

The Suns rebounded to end its weekend of SCAHL play with a 2-0 blanking of Lethbridge Hurricanes Red (1-10-6). Broderson scored both Suns goals on the power play from major five-minute penalties in which Haynes, Cleland and Dylan Granson recorded assists. Sidam earned the shutout, facing 15 shots.

Taber peewee “AA” Golden Suns travel to Cranbrook on Friday to take on the Eagles before returning home on Sunday afternoon to battle the Medicine Hat Hounds at 1 p.m. at the Taber Arena.

BANTAM: Taber bantam “AA” Golden Suns (13-5-2) earned three points in the standings by earning a win and a tie over the weekend in SCAHL play.

The win was a 7-4 victory over Bow Valley Timberwolves (10-6-1) at the Vauxhall Arena late Saturday afternoon. Mason Sande had two goals and Kole Fujita, James Halverson, Quade Hughson, Derrien Tonin and Hayden Mack had singles. Fujita and Seth McCulloch each had two assists while Brandon Hauck, Ryden Remple, Grady Honess, Tonin, Kolby James, Halverson, and Blake Kondor had single helpers. Owen Meyer earned the win in net, facing 24 shots.

The team then skated to a 3-3 draw against the Wheatland Warriors (12-3-4) on the road on Sunday. Halverson potted the hat trick to power the single point for the Suns. D.J. Tonin, Tristan Miller and Sande drew assists. Brayden Peters stood on his head in goal to preserve the tie, facing 45 shots as his Suns team was outshot by more than a 2-to-1 ratio.

Taber bantam “AA” Golden Suns have a SCAHL game this weekend with a Friday night game against Okotoks Oilers at the Taber Arena at 8:30 p.m.

MIDGET: Taber midget “AA” Golden Suns (7-10-3) recorded a 0-1-1 record over the weekend in SCAHL play in a home-and-home series with the Wheatland Chiefs.

Friday night’s game was a 3-3 draw against the Chiefs (10-5-3) at the Taber Arena on Friday night. Brant Mack, Reed Odland and Chase Gendy tallied for the Suns who got assists from Kaden Fujita, Brandon Langridge, Brock Palmer, Justin Astalos, Logan Wiebe and Clay Nevil. Broc Merkl was under siege to preserve the win in net, facing 54 shots on goal.

The team proceeded to get doubled up 4-2 by the Chiefs on the road on Saturday evening. Scott Loewen and Logan Middleton scored for the Suns with Palmer, Hunter Johnson and Linden Gouw drawing assists. Seth Graham took the loss in net, facing 18 shots as Merkl came on in relief, facing 16 shots.

Taber midget “AA” Golden Suns battle the Medicine Hat Hounds on Friday at the Vauxhall Arena at 5:30 p.m.