The U18 AA Western Prairie Thunder need a win tonight to keep their season alive. They take on the Saskatoon Comets at 7:30 PM from the Dodsland Arena.

The Thunder finished as the North Division's #2 seed in their respective SFHL regular season, earning themselves a first round bye. They matched up against the Warman Wildcats and lost the opening game of their postseason by a score of 4-1.

Coach Colin Weese wasn't surprised with the result after his team was coming off a long stretch away from the ice.

"We hadn't played a game in almost three weeks, and we looked like a team that hadn't played a game in three weeks."

The Thunder would bounce back in Games 2&3 winning by a combined score of 6-1, setting them up for a series in the North final against the Saskatoon Comets. Game 1 of that series was played back on Tuesday, and it was a tough loss for the Thunder as they played into three overtimes and ended up losing by a score of 3-2 to Saskatoon. 

The Thunder will look for another good effort tonight at home. Weese talked about how rurally based teams always get up when playing a team from the city.

"We've always took pride in battling against the city teams. West Central, Prairie Thunder. All of them," said Weese, who expects a good game, "We can play with anybody when they want to, and hopefully tonight we can get a little more going towards the net, try to pick up some garbage."

Kalei Johnston leads the Thunder in scoring so far these playoffs with 2 goals and 2 assists across four games. Goaltender Ella Rublee has started all four games so far, with a goals against average under 2 and a shutout.

Good performances from these two tonight would go a long way towards prolonging the U18 Thunder's AA season.

thunder2022-2023 U18 AA Western Prairie Thunder team photo (Photo courtesy of Angie Rublee)