Just call it the heartbreak in High River.
In a script that could have been penned by country crooner George Canyon, the upstart Banff Hockey Academy Bears, playing in their first Heritage Junior Hockey League playoff series since 2002, dropped a 5-4 loss in High River on Tuesday (Feb. 25) and 6-3 loss on Sunday (Feb. 23) in Banff at the Fenlands arena to fall behind 2-0 in their best of seven series.
After a poor effort on Sunday, the Bears dropped Tuesday’s game with three seconds left in the third period, when High River’s Dawson Lane scored an unassisted goal to win it.
“We could look at the experience of being in that situation, and we’re limited, but there are no excuses. We warned them about the intensity, but we need to be stronger than that,” said head coach Bill Doherty. “Our leadership group was poor today. We need to be ready.”
In Banff, The Bears started the game strong, but their lack of finish early on came back to bite them. High River scored five goals in the first period and a half to put the game out of reach early. Banff didn’t respond until late in the second when Dylan Robertson scored a beautiful shorthanded goal on a clean break, while Ryan Barrow and Jonas Gordan added singles in the third. The Bears had a 5-on-3 advantage midway through the third to get back into the game, but couldn’t manage to crawl back.
“We came out strong and had a strong territorial advantage. We weren’t executing and our powerplay was disorganized,” Doherty said.
In Game 2, Barrow staked the Bears with a 1-0 lead, but the Flyers responded with three straight. The Bears poured it on in the third to tie it up before the last minute heroics from Lane. Yannis Soukas, Givi Shepotko and Logan Milliken scored for Banff.
Doherty said the team’s top players have to respond to adversity in a positive manner, which is something they’re still learning.
“What happened in the dressing room between the first and second period was not good. What happened between the second and third was much better,” Doherty said.
High River goaltender Tyler Fornwald stopped 45 shots in the first game and another 24 on Tuesday.
Game three of the best-of-seven series was played Wednesday night (Feb. 26) in Banff, the results of which were unavailable at press time. Game four is scheduled for Friday (Feb. 28) in High River.
