Chiefs 9 Flames 1
The Red Deer Optimist Chiefs appeared to enjoy their new home digs on Sunday afternoon.
Red Deer defeated the Calgary Flames 9-1 in Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League play in their first game at the Servus Arena.
The offensive outburst came just a day after the Optimist Chiefs were shut out 4-0 by the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday.
“I was happy with the game overall, especially with how poorly we played yesterday,” said Red Deer head coach Doug Quinn.
“We talked about it, sometimes you’re not always going to play your best. We had some adversity and that’s how you deal with it. I was looking to see how our team we respond and they did.”
Both Deegan Mofford and Tye Carriere picked up hat tricks, while Sean Michalevich had two goals and Daylan Kuefler also added a marker.
“We took it to them tonight it was a great game and a big bounce back,” Carriere said.
“It was good, just went to the net hard and buried a few.”
Quinn added that it’s been a bit of a tough stretch for his group since their final appearance at the Mac’s Tournament and it was nice to breeze through the third period instead of having to battle through the final 20 minutes.
“We just haven’t been right for a couple weeks. I think we needed a little bit of a wake-up call that we need to play a certain way and with a certain effort. It was good to get back to that,” Quinn said.
“We’ve had a lot of games when we’ve been up a couple goals in the third, instead of keeping the foot on the gas and going up four or five one, earlier in the year we sat back. Next thing we know we’re scrambling to get the win.”
The head coach also said it was also nice to finally settle into their new home.
Duncan Hughes picked up the win in net for Red Deer.
Bantam AAA
The Red Deer Bantam AAA Rebels picked up a 3-1 win on the road over the Leduc Oil Kings on Sunday.
Kaiden Wedderburn opened the scoring and then scored the game-winner midway through the second period. Tyler MacKenzie also added a goal. Joshua Hilts earned the win in net with 30 saves.
Midget AAA Female
The Red Deer Sutter Fund Chiefs dropped a 5-2 game to the Rocky Mountain Raiders Sunday in a battle for first place in the Alberta Midget AAA Female Hockey League.
Red Deer fell behind 2-0 after the first period and trailed 3-0 after 40 before scoring twice in the third period.
Kadey Rosie and Alayna Wagstaff scored in the loss for Red Deer.
Minor Midget AAA
The Red Deer North Star Chiefs picked up three of the four points on the weekend.
They tied 3-3 with the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday and earned a 6-1 win over the NWCAA Bruins on Sunday.
Johnathan Fournier, Silas Buijs, and Steven Bell all had goals in the tie.
In the 6-1 victory, Bell had a pair of goals and an assist. Fournier, Konnor Green, Logan Somerville and Kyle Wallace also added goals. Caleb Trotter had 22 saves in the win.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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