The Airdrie Thunder have wrapped up the regular season and are eagerly anticipating the playoffs.

The reigning Heritage Junior Hockey League champions are hoping for a repeat of their success in last year's run where they brought home the league championship and the provincial title as well.

This year the Thunder finished at the top of the HJHL Northern Division with a 29-7-2 record for 60 points, 11 points ahead of the second-place Red Deer Vipers.

“We’re extremely happy with where we ended up,” said Head Coach Derek Stamp. “We knew at the core with what we had returning from last year that we would definitely be able to be successful, but to be able to finish in first place with the record that we have we’re excited and we’re excited to head into playoffs.”

Stamp said the team will need to work hard if they want to continue their time on top. He added one of the biggest challenges will be ensuring they remain consistent in their play throughout the playoff run.

“For us, it’s maintaining our composure. The games where we did struggle were where the teams were able to get under our skin and we maybe didn’t have the composure we wanted to,” Stamp said.

“We’ll make sure the systems are ready to go and we’ll have some conversations about managing adversity the right way and I think we’ll be set to start the second round.”

The Thunder have a bye for the first round for having finished in first place in the north. Their first game will be a home game on February 21st, where they will play the winner of the match-up between The Mountain View Colts and the Stettler Lightning.

 

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