The Airdrie Techmation Thunder blew open their season opener with a 13-2 rout of the Rocky Rams on Friday night at Ron Ebbesen Arena, with Tyson Sandhu scoring four goals and adding three assists in a seven-point night.
Rocky actually struck first, with Xzayden Beaverbones scoring on the power play at 4:16 of the first. Airdrie answered with two from Ty Brander (5:17 and 7:25) before Rocky’s Brawn McKay tied it 2-2 at 18:20. Sandhu opened his night with a goal just 16 seconds later to make it 3-2 Airdrie after twenty minutes.
Airdrie took full control in the second, getting goals from Nathan Cole (twice), Zachery Hall (on the power play), and Sandhu again to push the score to 7-2. The third period was more of the same: Justin Campbell, Hall, Kaelan Weisbeck, and two more from Sandhu — including a power-play goal — rounded out the scoring for a 13-2 final. Airdrie out-shot Rocky 53-25 for the game.
Lucas Veal played the full 60 minutes for Airdrie, stopping 23 of 25 shots for the win. Rocky used a two-goalie tandem of Maddyn McCrindle (25/31) and Jett Wagner (15/22) in the loss.