With the regular season over and done with, there is only one the Airdrie Lightning have their sights set on: a provincial championship.
After a remarkable season, the Airdrie Lightning U15 AA Female team will be turning their attention to the Alberta Female Hockey League (AFHL) provincial championship, which is set to kick off March 21 at Ron Ebbesen Arena in Airdrie.
“It was an incredible season," said Lightning assistant coach Mackenzie Ebel. "Our group was able to come together quickly and we had a lot of success from the start.”
The Lightning will act as hosts for the provincial tournament, but their pathway was earned; in 31 league games the Lightning compiled a 25-3-3 record, good enough for first place and a first-round playoff bye.
In their lone playoff matchup, the Lightning bested the Okotoks-based Rocky Mountain Raiders in three games. After losing the first game of the series in a shootout, the Lightning pulled off back-to-back nail biting wins to steal the series away from the Raiders.
“They really took it to us,” said Ebel of the Raiders. “It was a fun series…both teams pushed and we played Rocky Mountain throughout the year and I think they played their top games against us in that playoff round.”
Ebel mentioned that the round of league playoffs was fun and that it showed playoff hockey is its own special type of game.
“No matter what happens in the regular season, playoff hockey is a different kind of game,’ she said. “Just being able to play those out, our girls got to see what playoff hockey was for that weekend and it helped us prepare for what provincials will look like.”
Even though they knew they’d be going to provincials one way or another, Ebel said the Lightning were not content with the title of host.
“We got the mentality started early on that we’re going to work for it and it might be a grind sometimes but I think that's something the girls really were able to latch on to,” she said. “We're gonna be going regardless but we [wanted] to earn our way too.”
Although the Lightning were dominant all season, Ebel said she has seen a great deal of development in the Lightning’s communication, and added that the girls have really held themselves accountable when they needed to.
“I think as coaches we recognize a lot of the time we can't do those things for them and the girls have to kind of want it more than the other team,” said Ebel. “Some teams run into issues of not getting along, but in my years of playing and coaching, this group is remarkable. To see everyone getting along together and aligning on the same goals and coming out and having fun– that contributed a lot to our success throughout the year.”
With the success that teams like the Lightning have had this season, it might be easy to slip into some form of complacency. Yet, the Lightning haven't rested on their laurels after a terrific regular season. Instead, they’ve been using it as a reminder to improve throughout the year.
“We haven't changed a ton because things have been successful for us because of the way we've been running things,” said Ebel. “But it has been more of that mentality shift to, 'ok we've been talking about provincials since however long and now it's coming' and making sure that all that preparation beforehand is coming to fruition.”
The Lightning will play their first game of the provincial tournament on March 21 against Calgary Fire Red. The team has said that there will be an opening ceremony around 5:00 that same day, with different festivities happening throughout the weekend.
By their nature, provincial tournaments, unlike regular season or playoff hockey, can be a bot of a spectacle. Like a lot of big ticket sporting championships, provincials can sometimes offer more distractions for the players involved. Ebel said that a big part of the Lightning’s preparation has been to just focus on the hockey.
“That's how we're treating it, preparing to take one game and then focus on the next one,” she said. “We like to tell them 'control your controllables so what we can control is how we play and how we show up for our games and not leave it to chance for ourselves.”
Ebel said the Lightning coaching staff just wants the team to take in the whole experience and enjoy the provincial tournament.
“Biggest thing we've been telling them is, enjoy these moments and take them in but also come ready to play and tune those things out,” continued Ebel. “Enjoy those little things but when you get to the rink it's business.”
