Suffering their first consecutive losses of the season, the AON Flames, who dominated play in the opening months, fell 6-3 to Yukon Inn Wednesday during oldtimer hockey at Takhini Arena.
Going up 4-1 on Mike Burnett’s second goal early in the second period, the Flames clawed back within one with goals by Charles Broadhagen and Blaine Demchuk, his second, in the final five minutes.
However, Inn’s Drew Leas scored his third of the game with 1:34 to play, followed by a goal by Rick Blaker with five seconds left.
“The first half the game we tried to put together a good forecheck and that seemed to help,” said Burnett, who also registered an assist. “Then we got the 4-1 lead and we tried to make sure we kept our zone, played defensive, but it didn’t work.
“We were letting them come out of the zone too easily and set up.”
In fact, this was the second time that defensive play for Yukon Inn provided little dividends. Sunday against Performance Centre, Yukon Inn scored five goals in the second period to win 8-5 after abandoning a defensive strategy.
“In the first half we didn’t forecheck quite so much — in the second half we did lots of forechecking,” said Burnett. “Sitting back and trying to play defensive doesn’t work — not with our team anyway.”
Curiously, not all of the Flames shared Burnett’s views.
“They played smart,” said Flames defenceman Brian Eyolfson. “They got three good goals, then they had three men back the whole game. So we couldn’t get in front; we couldn’t pass the puck in front.”
“We like getting in front, lots of passes. They had three men in front cut off all our fancy passes.”
Other results
Oldtimer Wednesday
Performance Centre Turbos 5, Medicine Chest 2
Performance: Glen Heinbigner 2g 1a; Jason Cunning 1g; Woody Bennett 2a; Grant Lyons 1g; Bernie Adilman 1g; Dave Ecker 1a
Medicine: Ryan Hennings 1g; Greg Bull 1g; Phil Roszell 1a; Dave Bakica 1a
Rec hockey
Tuesday
Y.E.S. Jets 8, Yukon Inn Boiler Room 2;
Castlerock 4, Bantam Mustangs 1;
Monday
ORC Tree Services 7, Yukon Appliance 4;
Roadhouse 9, Kluane Drillers 2;
Sunday
Terra Firma Muckers 7, Kluane Drillers 3;
Boston Pizza 11, Air North 5;
Minor hockey
Sunday
Pizza Hut 8, Kopper King 2;
Duncans 6, Northwestel 5;
Envirolube 9, Yukon Office Supply 4;
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com