The Carrot River Outback Thunder’s season has come to an end.
The Thunder lost their Prairie Junior Hockey League North Division semifinal series, four games to one, to the Saskatoon AGI Insurance Quakers. The young Thunder battled but were unable to upset the PJHL regular season champions.
“It was nice to keep the first two games close, then win Game 3, and have a 5-1 start in Game 4,” said Trevor Logan, the Thunder’s head coach. “They are one of the top Junior B teams in Canada so we have to be proud of that. Obviously, we aren’t happy about the way things ended, but we have been banged up and short some guys for a while. The [Survivor] series with West Central and the first four in this series added to that and we just ran out of gas.”
With a new coaching staff and a team laden with youth and newcomers, the Thunder went 17-16-7 during the regular season.
“We are happy with the overall shape and picture going forward for the team,” Logan said. “We had some decent success on the ice this year for a relatively inexperienced team. We were able to turn the tides financially with some hard work from our board and support from the community. We will have a solid returning core next season, we have a bit of money in the bank, and we upgraded our bus, so we made positive strides.”
In regards to the Thunder’s play on the ice, Logan said he was pleased with the way the Thunder rebounded from losing game one to win its best of three Survivor Series. He also appreciated the squad’s victories against teams like the Quakers.
“They were full team efforts and enjoyable to be a part of,” Logan said.
The Thunder dropped the first two games of its semifinal series against the Quakers, but rallied to win Game 3, 5-4, in overtime. Saskatoon was able to win the next two.
Game 5: Quakers 10, Thunder 1
Saskatoon led 5-0 and 8-0 at the intermissions. Kyle Njaa scored Carrot River’s goal. Kolton Holmen started for Carrot River and made five saves on 10 shots. Ben Gilbertson had 37 saves on 42 shots.
Game 4:Quakers 10, Thunder 5
At home on March 2, the Thunder led 4-1 after the first period and were up 5-1 with just over five minutes gone by in the second session. The Quakers then got rolling. They scored 10 straight goals – including four on power plays – to secure the victory and take a 3-1 series lead.
Chandler Ashcroft, Logan Robinson and Nick Peterson each had two points for Carrot River. Scoring for the Thunder were Ashcroft, Peterson, Damian Ingram, Rylan Stadnek and Austin Linnen. Holmen made 43 saves.
Game 3: Thunder 5, Quakers 4 OT
Logan Robinson lit the lamp in overtime to give the Thunder a 5-4 victory in Game 3. On the road on March 1, Carrot River assistant coach Rob Holoien instructed Robinson to take a faceoff draw.
“I won it straight back to [Tyrell] Wenig and he shot it along the ice onto my stick in front and I kind of walked out into the middle and slid it under [goalie Austin Swystun],” said Robinson, who gave credit to Holoien for making the call.
The Quakers led 2-0 after the first period, but the Thunder tied things up with two goals of their own in the second session. Former Thunder player Tyrell Pompu put the Quakers up 3-2, but Carrot River scored twice to lead 4-3. With just over a minute and a half remaining in the third period, the Quakers tied things up on a power play. That set the stage for Robinson’s OT game winner.
Robinson led the Thunder with two goals and three points. Also scoring for Carrot River were Ingram, Wenig and Cole Jones. Holmen turned away 43 of the 47 shots he faced.
