To all intents and purposes, the Bantam ‘AA’ Thunder are moving on to the second round of Sturgeon Pembina playoffs, after thumping Hinton 12 – 0 in the first game of their two-game playoff series. They might play the second game and they might not, says coach Brad Pollard, but the rules say if the goal spread is 10 or better after the first, “you don’t have to play the second.”
There might be reasons for playing it, Pollard says, but at this point Slave Lake is the effective winner of the series, and will be moving on to play the winner of the series between Morinville and Athabasca.
It will probably be Morinville. They, along with Whitecourt and Slave Lake battled for first place all season long. A late surge put Whitecourt on top, with Slave Lake and Morinville tied for second with 33 points. The league website puts Morinville in second, perhaps by virtue of one more win.
The win over Hinton was obviously one-sided, but it was only 2 – 0 after one period, on goals by Nathan Hannah and Anthony Nahamko. The Thunder broke out for six more in the second and the rout was well underway.
Brandon Devos led the way with three goals. Matthew Girard, Travis Malbeuf and Mathew Monaghan each scored twice. Joey Bigstone also scored. Bud Dyck got the shut-out in net for Slave Lake.
The two-goalie tandem of Dyck and Pollard was quite an asset for the Thunder this season. Final stats posted on the league website show Zach Pollard led the league in goals against average at a stingy 1.714. Dyck was fifth at 2.066. On the scoring side, Brandon Devos was third in the league with 46 points in 23 games.

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