It was literally a rough and tumble start for the Stampeders so far.
The Ponoka Stampeders Junior B hockey club got there training camp underway last week, complete with some exhibition contests versus a pair of clubs from the Capital Junior B Hockey League based in Edmonton.
They opened with a rookie game on Sept. 5 in Wetaskiwin with a return match on Saturday at the Ponoka Culture and Recreation Complex, both of which left the Stampeders on the losing end by 7-1 and 9-1 score respectively
“We started hard both games and Wetaskiwin is a team that if you make a mistake defensively they will hurt you, and they did just that,” said Stamps head coach Tyler Fiveland.
Saturday’s game featured many of the Stampeders that will start the season for the club. However, that only lasted until just over the halfway mark of the contest.
“We had a bit of a scuffle where we came out on the losing end of the penalties,” Fiveland said about the line brawl that saw five players from each team sent to the dressing room.
“We were shorthanded for eight minutes and that killed us. We were too tired to bounce back, though we didn’t give up.”
The Stamps then hosted the Leduc Riggers on Sunday and the energy just wasn’t there, falling 7-1. The two clubs also played in Leduc last night (score unavailable at press time).
“Again, we were just too tired. It seemed like every time Leduc took a shot, they got a bounce and it went in,” he said.
“We also didn’t have any of our top line, who were serving a suspension from the night before.”
Fiveland is hopeful the team can get their stuff together in time for this weekend as they host Vegreville in a pair of exhibition games (Friday, 6 p.m. and Sunday, 8 p.m.) while also kicking off their regular season in between on Saturday night in Red Deer.