Maybe a little turkey, gravy, stuffing and three weeks rest were all the Airdrie Techmation Thunder needed.

After being off since December 17th on the Heritage Junior Hockey League's (HJHL) Christmas break, the Thunder played a pair of games this weekend and won them both.

On Friday night the much-improved Three Hills Thrashers visited the Ron Ebbesen Arena to face the Thunder.  

After Rodie John Pickens' fourth goal of the season gave Airdrie a 1 - 0 lead after one period, the Thrashers came roaring back in the second, scoring three times to take a 3 - 1 lead into the third.  That period gave an example of the Thunder's resiliency as they got two goals from Will Barrett to even things up a 3 - 3.  Barrett's second of the night was an unassisted effort on the power play with less than two minutes remaining in the final frame.  Things didn't look good in OT as an Airdrie penalty gave Three Hills the man advantage.  That's when Joel Taniguchi came to the rescue, notching his third goal of the season short-handed at the 1:18 mark to lift the Thunder to the character-building 4 - 3 victory.  

The Thunder outshot the Thrashers 35 - 27 in the game with Austin White picking up the win in the Airdrie net.

On Saturday night the Thunder traveled to Red Deer to face the Vipers, a team they trailed by four points heading into the game.

Once again the opposition got a quick jump on Airdrie with the Vipers getting a goal less than four minutes into the game.  Before the first period ended, Jeremy Jobin scored his second of the season to even the game up after 20 minutes.  Three second-period goals came from Ethan Razon, Jack Turton and Justin LeGrandeur with just one from a Red Deer stick to give the Thunder a 4 - 2 lead heading into the last period.  In that one, Damon Pennoyer would score a powerplay marker with under five minutes to go to secure the 5 - 2 win for Airdrie.  

The shot clock read 43 - 26 in favour of Airdrie with Josh Feddema in goal for the win.  

The two weekend victories mean the Thunder now have a record of 7-17-2, good for 16 points on the year.  They remain sixth in the North Division but have moved to just two points behind the Vipers with Airdrie holding a pair of games in hand.  

Next weekend the Thunder will meet both ends of the North Division standings for their opponents.  Friday night they host the Sylvan Lake Wranglers at 8:00 pm at the Ron Ebbesen.  The Wranglers are running away with the North after losing only two games this season.  They lead second-place Rocky by 21 points.  Then on Saturday night, Airdrie will travel to Ponoka for a game with the Stampeders.  Its been a tough season for  Ponoka with just a single win in their 27 games.

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