Despite the Ponoka Stampeders second straight season making the playoffs, it was another early exit for the local junior B club.
The Stamps were dispatched in two straight games by the Blackfalds Wranglers, by scores of 8-1 and 5-2, in the Heritage Junior Hockey League’s first round of the playoffs.
There was some optimism heading into the series with Ponoka having put up a lengthy winning streak and playing strong hockey, even having beaten Blackfalds in the past month. However, it was a combination of two terrible starts, not getting some timely saves and inconsistent discipline that wound up corralling the Stamps and forcing them off the playoff trail.
With game two in Ponoka Feb. 16, the Stamps were amped up. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm was tempered just six seconds into the contest as the game was delayed more than 30 minutes after a pane of plexiglass shattered, leaving shards in the stands and on the ice.
After play resumed, it was the Wranglers that carried the play in the first period by opening up a 4-0 lead in a stretch of four and a half minutes, which included three straight powerplay markers in just a span of 2:42.
The Stamps would gain back a measure of momentum, as Kieran Bulloch notched a powerplay goal with less than five minutes remaining in the opening frame. The lead would be cut in half just over three minutes into the second as Ponoka’s Austin Ancion would tickle the twine. However, a late second period powerplay goal by Blackfalds was the final straw and left the Stamps with little incentive in the third.
Ponoka was out shot in the game 44-31, with Taylor McLaughlin taking the loss. And the club didn’t help themselves, going one for nine on the powerplay while giving Blackfalds 11 powerplay chances.
Game One
An opening period burst was not how the Ponoka Stampeders wanted to open their playoff run on Feb. 14.
The Wranglers scored four times — including a shorthanded and a powerplay goal — in a span of five minutes just past the midway mark of the first frame that put the Stamps behind a huge eight-ball and unable to rebound.
Blackfalds would go up by five early in the second before Ponoka’s Brandon Brockerville would notch the Stamps only goal of the night just over six minutes into the period. The home side would get three more — including two with the man advantage — in the third to put the game away.
While the shots on goal were even at 32 each, the big difference came on special teams with Ponoka unable to score on its five powerplay chances including a 5-on-3 opportunity for almost a minute to start the second period.
Keenan Starkell got the start for the Stamps, but was pulled after playing 15:44 with three of the eight shots sent his way finding the inside of the net. Taylor McLaughlin went the rest of the way, stopping 19 shots.