The Lakeland College King’s Energy Group Rustlers Hockey Club celebrates an early goal against the Fort Saskatchewan Fury on Sunday at the Russ Robertson Arena. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
If regular-season play were any indication of how an inaugural playoff run would go, the future looks bright for the Lakeland College King’s Energy Group Rustlers Hockey Club.
The Rustlers (19-4-0-1), playing out of the Alberta Junior Female Hockey League (AJFHL), faced off against the Fort Saskatchewan Fury (9-14-0-1) in the first round of a best-of-three series this past weekend, and closed the series in two games.
The Rustlers were in Fort Saskatchewan on Saturday for a road game against the Fury, and after a tight 60 minutes, skated away with a 4-3 win.
The Rustlers then hosted the Fury at the Russ Robertson Arena on Sunday and shutout the visitors 8-0 in front of a packed home crowd.
“Playoffs is a whole different game,” said Rustlers head coach Morgan Mann.
“I look at a season in three parts and playoffs is the third chapter, the final part of the season, and it’s what you play for all year.
“Going into the weekend we were very excited, but nervous and cautious. We were going into it in the number-one seat in the north, but of course in the playoffs, anything can happen.”
Game 1 in Fort Saskatchewan was a close one, and according to Mann, not an easy win, but the work put in on Saturday pushed the team to new heights on Sunday as they potted eight goals on Fury goaltenders Merisha Hoyles and Paige Thomas.
“Coming back home on Sunday, we may have played the best game of the season, at least it was our best game all winter, so that was a nice way to finish off the first round,” said Mann.
The coach pointed out the other north division series between the Edmonton Wolves and the Sherwood Park Steele was also done after two games, with the Wolves taking the win.
The Rustlers will now take on the Wolves in the second round of AJFHL action and are feeling quite confident going into the series.
“We’re feeling good about the second round,” said Mann.
“The Wolves, out of our four games with them this season, we won three and lost one, but they were all really close games and could have gone either way,” said Mann.
“We’re certainly not taking them for granted. They’re an older team and probably have the most college and university experience of all the teams in our league.
“Most of their players are 21 and 22 years of age, making them a year or two older than most of our players, so they’re a veteran team and they’re well-coached. It’ll be tough.”
Despite this being the first season Lakeland has iced a team, continued support from the community has not gone unnoticed by Mann, or his players.
“Our game on Sunday had to be the best crowd we’ve had all winter, and of course, we’ve really enjoyed the Russ for that reason,” said Mann.
“When we get a couple of hundred fans to the game it really has a great atmosphere and that’s exciting for the players, as well as all of us who are involved.”
The Rustlers are also still patiently waiting to hear back from the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) as to whether or not they will be playing out of the collegiate conference next season, and for Mann, the news couldn’t come soon enough.
“Everything is done and we’re just waiting to hear from the league. We’d like to get the news tomorrow, of course, but everything is a process and has to go through the proper steps. We won’t get any news until the first week in May, but, by all accounts, we’re feeling very confident.”
The Rustlers open the second round of playoff action against Edmonton this Sunday at the Russ with a 3:15 p.m. puck drop.
