Thunder edge Cubs in season-opener

There's nothing like a championship banner to provide a little motivation.

Veteran Airdrie Thunder centre Tristan Paquette said he was going to be pumped up to see the HJHL and provincial championship banners in the rafters of the Ron Ebbesen Arena.

He wasn't kidding.

Paquette scored the game-winner with 2:03 to play in regulation time and assisted on Kirkland Spencer's first period marker as the Thunder held off the Medicine Hat Cubs 3-1 on the HJHL's opening night.

Kyle Bracko added an empty-netter in the final minute while Mackenzie Fritzler scored the visitors' lone tally.

Spencer's early marker looked as though it might hold up as the game's only goal as it was still 1-0 at the midway point of the third period.

"I got a nice face-off win from (Paquette), the puck flipped up and I just put it on net," Spencer said of the floater that found the back of the net.

"The guys did a good job of getting in front and making sure (Cubs goaltender Brett Vanderveer) couldn't see it."

Thunder goaltender Jackson Little had a perfect night going until Fritzler tied the game on the powerplay with 6:33 on the clock, setting the stage for Paquette's heroics.

Fritzler, who has more than doubled his offensive output in each of his first three seasons with the Cubs, got off to a quick start in his overage campaign.

"It was pretty exciting to get that first one on the board," the 5-foot-9, 160-pounder said. "It was a tough loss though."

In most sports, offensive production can be tough to find early in a season and that certainly seemed to be the case on Friday night.

"Sometimes it's tough because there's guys you've never played with," Fritzler said. "There's a new set of lines and it's hard to adjust."

Despite the loss, the veteran Cubs forward feels good about how his team looks moving forward.

"(Airdrie) has a good team, but I think we can definitely take it to them this year.

"It's just the first game, so we'll keep our heads high and go out and win the next one."

Airdrie outshot the visitors 39-28.

In other HJHL action on opening night, the Mountainview Colts beat the Stettler Lightning 6-3 and the Okotoks Bisons dumped the High River Flyers 6-1.

There's five games on tap on Saturday with the Thunder visiting the Cochrane Generals, the Cubs staying on the road in High River, the Red Deer Vipers hosting the Sylvan Lake Wranglers, the Strathmore Wheat Kings welcoming the Bisons and the Colts in Coaldale to take on the defending South Division champion Copperheads.