Storm playing the Drumheller Dragons. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing

By Shane Clausing

Storm rival

Storm return home to face rivals from Fort Mac

Jan 24, 2020 | 2:02 PM

The Grande Prairie Storm continue their stretch of four games in five days tonight at home as they welcome the Fort McMurray Oil Barons to town.

The Storm recently split a two-game road trip in Spruce Grove and Lloydminster, where they fell 4-1 to the Saints on Tuesday and defeated the Bobcats 3-2 on Wednesday.

“Tuesday night I thought we played well, just couldn’t find a way to find the back of the net,” said Interim Head Coach Ryan Aasman. “Versus Lloyd, we were up and down all night, the start was rocky, we ended up the first up 3-1. I thought the second period was fine and I thought we took the third completely off, we got to learn to play consistent and that you can’t take a shift off and you got to come compete every shift.”

Tonight, the Storm face their rivals, the Fort McMurray Oil Barons. The Oil Barons have struggled this season. They sit second-last in the AJHL North Division and recently made a major change to their team.

The team announced last week that long-time AJHL coach Gord Thibodeau would become the team’s new Head Coach and General Manager. Thibodeau has been coaching Junior A hockey for 25 years and has coached in over 1,700 games for six different AJHL teams, including the Oil Barons.

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While the Oil Barons haven’t won much this season, they’re playing better hockey as of late and this weekend could be a tough test for the Storm.

“I think they’re going to come rejuvenated, they’ve been playing some good hockey as of late,” said Aasman. “They’re an older team, a little bit heavier, and got some experience. I think they’ll come in and play us with a lot of pressure, be heavy on the forecheck and not give us a lot of time and space. We’ll have to be sharp, find our legs and counteract that with some puck possession and value the puck.”

On the road trip, the team saw themselves lose defenseman Will Schimek for two games due to suspension after he was ejected for kneeing a Saints player. He is eligible to return on Saturday night.

The team called up Fox Doell who is playing Midget AAA hockey in Red Deer and Dylan McFatridge who plays for the Southside Athletic Club in Edmonton.

Both players were playing in their first AJHL games.

Tonight’s game gets underway tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Revolution Place.