Fans drown out of the train horn at JDA Place with a deafeningly loud response to a fantastic goal

In the first round of the AJHL Playoffs, the Whitecourt Wolverines needed five games to
eliminate the Camrose Kodiaks from contention. The battle heavily leaned towards the
Wolverines as they wrapped up the first three victories, losing only one of their five games.
Things weren’t so easy against the Canmore Eagles in the second round. The opening
homestand in JDA Place was a split between them, with Whitecourt winning the first and the
Eagles winning the second. The same result came from the two-game homestand in Canmore,
with the Wolverines and Eagles splitting things again.
On Friday, April 5, the two teams converged at JDA Place, and the Wolverines were hoping to
take the series lead for a third time and hopefully keep it. There were 575 fans in the stands,
including a few extra loud noisemakers that echoed through the arena. The hometown crowd
was pumped.
Nicholas Avakyan took his spot in the net as the puck dropped shortly after 7 p.m. Just shy of
eight minutes into the first, Joey Melo scored his second of the playoffs, assisted by Evan
Johnson (3) and Nathaniel Bannister, his fifth playoff assist. Whitecourt had taken the early lead,
1-0.
Still in the first, after taking a too-many-men penalty earlier in the period, Jalen Bianchet
shovelled his third goal of the playoffs past the Eagles’ netminder, unassisted, giving his team a
2-0 lead. In the dying seconds of the period, Canmore took a hooking penalty, giving the
Wolverines the man advantage to start off the second.
In the second period, no scoring was recorded, and there were only two penalties to speak of,
but that wasn’t the whole story, not by a long shot. It was a ‘you-had-to-be-there-to-know’ kind of
thing. The Wolverines dominated much of it, exploding their shots on goal count to nearly triple
their opponents. By the end of the period, the Wolverines had 31 shots, while the Eagles only
had 13. The Eagles goalie was his team’s hero because the game could’ve easily been 10-0 at
that point.
During multiple stretches of the period, the Wolverines held complete control, keeping the puck
in the Eagles’ zone without end, with shot after shot pummeling the Eagles goalie. Several close
calls had fans reacting in unison, like a choir, flowing with the highs and near-misses of the
game.
In the final frame, things got off the rails. There were only five penalties in the first two periods,
but in the third period, there were seven. Canmore took most of them (interference, high
sticking, roughing x2), while the Wolverines took three (Feist/Slashing, Larson/Roughing,
Arnold/Roughing).
Nearly every whistle blast resulted in attempts by the Eagles players to get the Wolverines to
fight. Players kept going after Colby Browne, trying to get him going. From the perspective of
someone behind the glass, it appeared that the Wolverines didn’t want to chance having
suspensions thrown their way. Fans could be heard saying things like “Keep your cool, boys”
and “Don’t let them get to you.”

At two minutes and thirty seconds of the period, fan-favourite Colby Browne scored a beautiful
goal on the powerplay, his fifth of the playoffs, assisted by Travis Verbeek and Joey Melo, who
snagged their fifth playoff assists. It was a triple-five play! The Wolverines had the Eagles on
their knees with a 3-0 lead.
Fans barely had time to recoup from all their cheering when just eighty-one seconds later,
Spencer Rheaume came flying up the ice alongside Jarred Feist, ripping one past the Canmore
netminder to score his fifth of the playoffs. JDA Place was deafeningly loud as fans erupted in
jubilation at the back-to-back goals. From ear-blasting airhorn contraptions to clappers, bangers,
foot stomps, cowbells and even a few kazoos, the sound coming out of the Athabasca Arena
was so loud that the train blast, which always follows a Wolverines’ goal, was barely noticeable
amongst the rest of the noise. Now that’s how you do it, fans!
Whitecourt’s Wolverines had given the faithful crowd an exceptional night of hockey and had
taken back the series lead, 3-2. Avakyan took the well-deserved shutout, and Joey Melo’s first
goal ended up being the game-winner. And to give credit where it’s due, Matthew Malin, the
goalie for the Eagles, deserves recognition for only letting in four goals because the final shot
count for the Wolverines was 43, twenty more than the Eagles.
Game six between the two teams was on Sunday, April 7 in Canmore, two days before this
paper printed. So, here’s to seeing a cup half full with hope that the Wolverines did win game 6,
ending the series. The Whitecourt Press would love to keep getting to help cheer on
Whitecourt’s Wolverines, especially in the league final! If they didn’t win game six, the seventh
and final game will be on Tuesday, April 9, at JDA Place. Go, Wolverines! Go!