The St. Albert Jr. B Rams went into Sunday afternoons contest with the Calgary Jr. Mounties with a lot of confidence and intensity. The Jr. B Rams had faired very well against the powerful Jr. Mounties in the 2 previous meetings. The last time these two teams met the Jr. Mounties came out on top 11-10 and prior to that the two teams played to a 7-7 draw.

The Jr. Mounties obviously had other plans because they came out flying and scored 23 seconds into the game. This took the Jr. B Rams off guard as they are the team that usually scores early in the first period. The Jr. Mounties scored 2 more goals to take a 3-0 lead. The Jr. B Rams offence was getting all kinds of scoring chances but couldn’t put the ball by the Jr. Mounties tender Jordan Pavelich.

Finally Ryan Polny beat Pavelich with a laser to the top corner with 1:39 seconds remaining in the first period. The Jr. Mounties took a 3-1 lead into the dressing room.

The Jr. Mounties came out fast again in the second period and scored to make it 4-1. Tim Cassios made the score 4-2 before the Jr. Mounties scored 3 more goals to take a commanding 7-2 lead after 2 periods. The Jr. B Rams had plenty of chances to score in the second period but the Rams snipers couldn’t finish around the net. The score was not indicative of the play on the floor.

The third period has not been too kind to the Jr. B Rams this season, so going into the third down by 5 goals was a tall order for the Jr. B Rams. The Rams came out and worked hard in both ends of the floor. The Jr. Mounties scored to make it 8-2. Kurtis Pederson and Mike Lutes, with his first goal as a Junior pulled the Jr. B Rams to within 4 goals with less than 4 minutes left in the game. The Jr. Mounties scored with a little more than 2 minutes left to almost seal the deal. The Jr. B Rams did not quit as Nick Petz and Brandon May each netted one to close out the scoring. The Jr. B Rams showed a lot of character throughout the game. If there was such a thing as a good loss this would have been one for the Jr. B Rams.