Headline photo: Scott Savard
High River, AB (September 29, 2026) – The High River Flyers picked up two points after completing the HJHL 2026-2027 opening weekend with a huge 6-1 win in Rimbey against the Royals and then fell to the Cubs, the reigning HJHL champions, 5-3 on Friday in Medicine Hat.
Returning member of the Flock, Erich Baxter once again provided the Flyers steady goaltending and kept his team in it in both games. Baxter made 44 saves on 49 shots to start the HJHL season, continuing where he left off last season. Kayden Van Ham tended the goal for the Cubs, making 20 saves on 23 shots.
The Cubs got on the board first before a minute of hockey had passed with a goal from Colby Gulliver, but the Flyers didn’t panic as Baxter would stop 15 shots in the first frame, and Beck O’Neill would add his first career HJHL goal at the 13:00 minute mark to make it a brand new hockey game to start the second period at 1-1. Matteo Andrew and Seth Coderre would pick up the helpers for their first points of the season.
The Cubs fired back in the second, picking up goals from Randen Collier and Brodie Heimbecker, followed by a third goal early in the third from Cole Fisher to take a 4-1 lead.
The Flock answered back with two goals of their own coming three and a half minutes apart as Emerett Norleen and Jake Brennan each found the back of the net. Peppler would add assists on both goals, with captain Lucas Hughes picking up his first point of the season and Brennan adding another point to his totals with a helper.
Heimbecker collected his second of the night before the final frame came to a close and finished the game 5-3 in favour of the Cubs.
Baxter would make his second straight start for the Flyers in Rimbey the next night and again stood tall with 47 saves on 48 shots. The Royals would split time with their goalies; Anden Bieganowski made the start after getting replaced late in the second period by Valentino Elias Harson after letting four goals in on 27 shots.
The Flyers would end the first period with a 2-0 lead and had a hefty 20 shots on goal while Baxter denied 18 shots that came his way. Coderre collected his first HJHL goal to open the scoring, with Cohen Spencer adding the helper. Spencer would then follow it up with his first HJHL goal as returning Flyer Rodie Pickens earned his first point of the season with the assist.
Brayden Nicolas cut the Flyers’ lead in half in the second period, but the Flyers responded with another two goals to end the middle frame 4-1. Brennan collected his second goal of the season, with Hughes adding another assist to his totals. Maddix Summerell followed his teammates and added his first HJHL goal at the 12:35 mark as Jack Green picked up the helper.
The third was a repeat of the first period as Coderre made it a 5-1 game, followed by Spencer also collecting his second goal of the season as well as the game. Spencer would again collect the lone assist on Coderre’s marker, while Hughes added his third point of the season with the helper on Spencer’s goal.
The Flyers host their Home Opener this Friday against the Red Deer Vipers at the Bob Snodgrass Rec Plex with a puck drop of 8:15 p.m. and then head to Okotoks to reignite their rivalry with the Bisons on Saturday.
