The St. Albert Steel are surprisingly upbeat about their playoff fortunes despite their losing ways recently.
“We’re not pushing the panic button just yet,” said goalie Rhys Hadfield. “We like the group we got for sure and we’ve got enough confidence going into the playoffs.
Unless the Steel (26-27-3) catch lighting in a bottle with four games in five days to end the regular season, they will finish seventh out of eight teams in the north for the right to battle the second-place Fort McMurray Oil Barons (41-16-1) in the opening best-of-five series.
“We want to win every game and put our best foot forward. We want to try and get good habits coming into the playoffs,” Hadfield said.
Last year the Oil Barons swept the Steel in the first round. The Steel have never won a playoff series while based in St. Albert.
The playoff series against the Oil Barons is scheduled to open next weekend in Fort McMurray. The Steel host game three Feb. 28 and game four, if needed, March 1. Start times are 7 p.m. at Performance Arena.
The Steel also have an outside shot at passing the Sherwood Park Crusaders (28-24-6) for sixth spot and a playoff date with the third-place Bonnyville Pontiacs (34-15-9). The Steel trailed the Crusaders by seven points with two games in hand, prior to Friday’s match in Grande Prairie against the fourth-place Storm (32-22-4). The score was unavailable at press time.
“Either way, if we play Fort Mac or Bonnyville we have a good record against both of them,” Hadfield said.
The Steel finished 2-3-1 against the Oil Barons and 4-2 against the Pontiacs, with three wins recorded after regulation time.
Heading into the two-game weekend series in Grande Prairie, the Steel had managed only three points in their last seven games. Their sixth loss in 10 games was Tuesday’s 5-2 setback at home against the Spruce Grove Saints (48-6-4) in front of an announced crowd of 256. The defending Alberta Junior Hockey League champion Saints are ranked number one in the Canadian Junior Hockey League.
“It was a good test and a good benchmark to play those guys,” Hadfield said. “Going into the playoffs we know what we need to work on now.”
For the umpteenth time this season the Steel got outshot by the opposition with Hadfield (26-23-3, 3.69 GAA) in net. This time the margin was 42-19.
“For the most part I was pretty comfortable. Of course there were a couple I would like back, like usual,” said the league-leader in minutes played (2,912), goals-against (179), shots faced (1,784) and saves (1,605).
The Saints marched into a 3-0 lead on goals by Bryce Van Brabant at 6:53, Josh Koper on the power play at 10:19 and Felix-Antoine Poulin at 12:57.
Before the period ended, Steel centre Derek Bacon potted his 25th and 26th goals. Bacon’s first marker was his 11th power-play tally.
“We kind of lost it there in the first 12 or so minutes, but from there on we were 2-2 with them,” Hadfield said.
The Saints pulled away on goals by Dylan Richard in the second and Mat Knoll’s power-play score in the third.
The Steel were coming off a 4-1 loss Sunday in Sherwood Park.
“It seems like when we play better teams we come to the rink with a better effort,” Hadfield said. “When we’re playing Sherwood Park, they’re obviously a good team, but it seems we kind of play to their level more than when we’re playing good teams like Spruce Grove or Fort Mac. We really play to their level and that’s when we play our best game.”
In his first season with the Steel, the 19-year-old workhorse broke team records for the most wins, most losses, minutes played, shots faced and saves.
“I’m definitely happy with the amount I’m playing, especially coming into playoffs,” said Hadfield, a midget AAA product of the Southside Athletic Club who split his junior A rookie season between Grande Prairie and the Nanaimo Clippers in 2009/10. “I hope to get on a bit of a roll. I would love to win a little bit more. We’re getting real close sometimes but we’re just not getting the wins. I’m not too worried about it though.”
ICE CHIPS: The last home game before the playoffs is Monday against the fifth-place Lloydminster Bobcats (30-24-4) at 2:30 p.m. They close out league play Tuesday in Calgary against the south-division Mustangs (25-31-1).
Taylor Fraser padded his team-leading point totals to 66 in 56 games with a pair of assists Tuesday. The 19-year-old right-winger ranked seventh in the AJHL points race. His 35 goals were also tied for second in the league. Kyle Reynolds of the Okotoks Oilers was the AJHL’s top sniper, with 38 goals and 78 points in 49 games.
Injured centre Reed Linaker was named to the north division all-league team, as selected by AJHL coaches and general managers. Linaker, 19, the second-highest scorer in franchise history (173 points in 141 games), had 52 points in 34 games before suffering a season-ending knee injury Feb. 4.
