Kyle Pauls, Tyler Wong and Mackenzie Bauer combined for 12 points, while Christian Fitzgerald made 21 saves in net, as the Airdrie Xtreme extended its winning streak to three with a 7-3 road victory over the Calgary Northstars on Nov. 7.
“Our big three are putting the points up, but one thing that didn’t necessarily show up on the scoresheet is that we’re really starting to get opportunities for the other lines too,” said Xtreme head coach Terry Keogh. “It’s just a matter of time before we start seeing goals from the secondary scoring.”
Pauls scored his first of three, from linemates Wong and Bauer, with 1:57 left in the first period, but Calgary responded quickly and went up 2-1 two minutes into the second. J.P Gingrus tied the game at the 4:21 mark, before Wong scored twice two minutes apart and Pauls added another to put Airdrie up 5-2.
“We traded goals a little bit, and they went up 2-1 early in the second. But over the last three games, the second period has been our best and we really took it to them,” Keogh said.
The Xtreme went ahead 7-2 early in the third with goals by Bauer and Pauls, who completed his hat trick. Calgary scored again late in the period.
“We started off a little bit flat, because playing one game a week in the last few weeks, like we have, it takes a little while to get going,” Keogh said. “But we played much better when we got our feet going.”
Airdrie (7W-3L) will strive to keep the momentum going against two division-leading opponents this weekend. They will host the Calgary Bisons, tops in the Challenger South, in Three Hills, Nov. 13 at 2 p.m, before heading to Lethbridge to play the Ram South-leading Golden Hawks on Nov. 14.
“It’s a big weekend for us, because the Saturday game is against the Bisons, which was one of our losses,” Keogh said.
