The St. Albert Steel are down, but not out as the last-place north division team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Their 10th defeat in 14 games was Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to the (8-3-1) Bobcats in Lloydminster.
“I don’t think we’re discouraged at all,” said left-winger Jamie Johnson. “We have a really skilled line-up, I just feel sometimes we tend to do a little too much. If we just simplify our game and make it a little easier on ourselves out there, then for sure we’ll be a good team.”
The Steel (2-10-2) are two points back of the Grande Prairie Storm (3-10-1) for the seventh and last playoff spot in the north.
“We just got off to a slow start. We’ve had some unlucky games, too. We’ve lost a lot of one goal and two goal games,” Johnson said. “We haven’t been getting the bounces lately but they’re starting to come a little more as we progress so I’m sure we’ll get a few more Ws in the future.”
The Steel showed signs of improvement while going 1-3-1 in their last five games.
“We’re starting to get a little more confidence and I feel the team is only going to go up from here,” said Johnson, who joined the Steel 10 games ago in a trade with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons for future considerations.
John Baird scored twice against the Bobcats. His fifth power-play goal opened the scoring in the second period and his ninth goal came with 4:18 left in regulation time.
The Bobcats, who outshot the Steel 37-15, scored two short-handed goals, including an empty-netter with 29 seconds to play. Ty Swabb (0-5-2, 4.37 GAA) was in net for the 16th ranked defensive team in the league.
Johnson, 19, was held pointless after scoring his first Steel goal in Sunday’s 6-2 loss to the Calgary Canucks. He also notched two assists in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Okotoks Oilers.
The midget AAA product of the KC Pats is tied for fifth place in team scoring with six points.
“It’s been going good at times but I have another level I can get to here,” Johnson said. “I’m sure it’s only going to get better.”
Last weekend Johnson skated on a productive line combination with Baird and Ryan Berlin (2-4-6 in 14 games) during the Steel’s three game road trip through southern Alberta.
“We had some good chemistry going,” Johnson said. “Baird is a great centreman. He helped me out a lot over the weekend. We’ve pretty much been together the whole time I’ve been here. Berlin has been in and out of our line but lately it’s been us three.”
Johnson described himself as a playmaker.
“I definitely look to pass before I shoot. Sometimes it’s a disadvantage but I love to share the puck,” said the six-foot and 170-pound forward. “I feel I see the ice pretty well and that helps me pass the puck.”
The graduate of O’Leary High School broke into the AJHL last season with the Oil Barons and after one goal in five games was traded to the Nipawin Hawks in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League where he had 11 goals and 27 points in 44 games.
“Nipawin was a great learning experience. I met a lot of new friends and they had a great coaching staff there.”
In June the Oil Barons re-acquired Johnson for goalie Davis Jones, who won a midget AA provincial championship in 2009 with the St. Albert Crusaders.
After going 1-3 in their last four games, all on the road, the Steel close out the month with five home games. Tonight they host the Calgary Mustangs (5-8) at 7 p.m. at Performance Arena.
ICE CHIPS: The Steel have brought on board Nick Kerr, a six-foot-one, 215-pound forward from the Wenatchee Wild of the North American Hockey League. Kerr, 19, hails from Okanagan Falls, B.C. He was scoreless in three games with the Steel last weekend. Last season with the Olds Grizzlys in the AJHL he had three goals, four assists and 30 penalty minutes in 25 games.
