The St. Albert Steel were anxious to put the past behind them after their 16th loss in 17 games before the Christmas break.
The last-place team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League has 19 games remaining to salvage its season.
“We just have to forget about all this. It’s gone. It’s in the past,” said assistant captain Matt Abt. “We’re starting off fresh. Hopefully things turn out a little differently for us.”
The slumping Steel (6-33-2) are 19 points back of the seventh and last playoff spot in the north after their ninth loss in a row, 7-1 against the Fort McMurray Oil Barons on Wednesday before an announced crowd of 233 at Performance Arena.
“It’s been really frustrating,” Abt said. “We’ve just got to battle through it and hope for the best and keep working hard.”
The Steel were battling and pulled into a 1-1 tie 4:20 into the second period on Billy Vida’s first AJHL goal. But they couldn’t hold off Fort McMurray’s offence. In the third the Oil Barons scored four times on nine shots against netminder Rhys Hadfield (3-18, 5.00 GAA). A shorthanded effort at 7:39 made it 6-1. Shots overall were 33-15 for the visitors.
“The last while we haven’t been playing a full 60 minutes and we’ve really got to work on that. We’re on and off and it’s just not working for us,” Abt said.
The injury-plagued Steel were forced to call up junior B and midget AAA affiliates against the Oil Barons (32-4-3), ranked fourth in the Canadian Junior Hockey League.
“We have five or six (players) out and they’re regulars in the line-up, too. It’s tough,” Abt said.
Last weekend in Fort McMurray, the Steel suffered losses of 7-1 and 7-2 while outshot by a combined count of 117-39.
“They’re a good team. They’ve got good systems. We’ve just got to play it simpler,” said Abt.
The 18-year-old defenceman is among only five returning players left on the roster after the Steel traded away all but one of their 20-year-olds for younger players, prospects and future considerations a few weeks ago.
League play resumes Jan. 4 for the Steel against the Oil Barons at 7 p.m. in St. Albert.
