When the Airdrie Xtreme were drawing up their plan for going into the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League Christmas break, they probably didn't envision losses in their final two games prior to it.  

On Saturday (December 21) the Xtreme took on the PAC Saints and lost a close one, falling 5 - 4.  On Sunday in a home encounter with the Red Deer Rebels, the Xtreme were blanked 3 - 0.  That's not bad, says Head Coach Tyson Soloski, considering the Rebels are in first place in the AMBHL Ram South Division and have lost only a single game this season.

"We're playing some of the tough teams really hard," says Soloski. "Even though we lost 3 - 0 to Red Deer it was a really good game.  I thought it was a really close game scoring chances wise.  It's good to see us compete right to the end with probably the toughest team in our league."

The Xtreme have a record to date of 6 - 13 and 4 and are second in the Ram South Division, even if they trail the first place Rebels by 22 points.  Soloski says he's watched the team's level of play improve through the season.  Some lapses during games they've played have hurt Airdrie but Soloski says those lapses are becoming fewer and lasting for shorter periods of time.

"That's kind of the next thing we've got to get better at is just playing a full 60 minutes.  We might take five to seven minutes off here and there and that's kind of the difference in those close games where we take five minutes off and all of a sudden they score two goals and that's the difference.  I think once we play a full 60 minutes we can beat any team in our league.  We're definitely competitive in every game."

The Xtreme will enjoy some turkey, presents and rest until their next game which is slated for Saturday, January 4th when they host the SEAC Tigers at 4:15 pm at the Ron Ebbesen Arena.  

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