The more successful you are, the more you play.
Just ask the Bow Valley Timberwolves Midget AA hockey team.
With Brett Berndt and Mac Niewchas coming off high-end play at the South Central Alberta Hockey League all-star game in Okotoks Jan. 20, the T-wolves went right into Zone 6 provincial playdown play against the Airdie Lightning. The Timberwolves blanked Airdrie 3-0 in Game 1 and lost 4-3 in Game 2 of the two-game, total-goals series to advance to meet the winner of the Strathmore-Brooks series.
Throw in remaining SCAHL regular-season games and playoffs, and you have one busy squad.
“They are ecstatic,” Timberwolves assistant coach Chase Kinch said of Midget Timberwolves players heading into the late stages of the season. “The kids are coming together really well.”
Timberwolves Talus Hume, Brett Wood, Nick Noseworthy, Brett Cave, Niewchas, Dustin Ponath and goalies Garrett Iverson and Kurtis Shugg are also seeing extra playing time as affiliate players with the Junior B Cochrane Generals.
“When they go to the Generals, they don’t even look out of place at all,” Kinch said. “They are right up there with them. They are good enough to play there.”
Exposure to junior-level play benefits their play at the Midget AA level.
“It’s (junior) a lot faster game than they realized. But they’re not out of place there,” Kinch observed. “They get a lot more confidence coming back to our team with that kind of experience. They’re playing 20-21-year-olds up there. They’re a lot more confident playing 16-year-olds.”
The team has steadily improved as the season has progressed and the Timberwolves are now playing some of their best hockey just in time for the post season and a shot at a berth in the provincial tournament in Whitecourt in March.
“We’re coming together. It’s a good time to be peaking,” Kinch surmised. “We’ll try and carry that into the playoffs.”
