The Friday night league opener for the North Eastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League (NEAJBHL) would have a disappointing result for the St. Paul Canadiens, who would take a 6-2 beating at the hands of their rivals, the Saddle Lake Warriors.
“We’re a young team, so we’re going to have growing pains and we’re going through some of those growing pains now,” said Aaron Block, head coach for the Canadiens. He said he was encouraged by the performance of the team, in that they never gave up.
The Warriors poured offensive pressure on the Canadiens throughout the first period. With a little more than seven minutes left in the first period, the Warriors would get on the scoreboard with a goal from Cory Hunter, followed by a goal from Darien Cardinal a few minutes later. The story was told in the shots on goal, with the Warriors taking 23 shots on goal to the Canadiens’ 10 shots on goal in the first.
The Canadiens would try to rally in the second, and looked to have a scoring opportunity with a two-man advantage a few minutes into the second period.
Instead, the Warriors successfully killed the first penalty and with 12 seconds left in the second penalty, the Warriors’ Patrick Gladue would score an unassisted goal to make the score 3-0, to the howls of disappointment of Canadiens’ supporters.
The Canadiens did find the back of the net later in the second period, giving their local supporters a reason to cheer, but the shot was disallowed because the net was dislodged. Local fans’ hopes would rise again with another two-man advantage for the team with two minutes left in the period, but once again, the Warriors managed to kill the clock on both penalties.
Block says the team has yet to practice its power play, since it’s still in the process of setting up its team. Until the team is set up, it’s going to continue to look “sloppy” on its systems, he said.
The third period saw both teams more evenly matched, with the Canadiens finally getting onto the scoreboard with a goal from Rylan Madoche, assisted by Charles Laboucan and Anthony Melnyk. The Warriors answered back with a goal from Darien Cardinal, assisted by Cole Steinhauer.
The two teams’ traded goals once again, with Ricky Iron scoring for the Canadiens, to make the score 4-2, but the Warriors quickly widened the gap again with two more goals from Cardinal and James Emmett.
There were a few bright spots for the Canadiens during the game, including the performance of their goalkeeper, Evan Joly, who stopped 45 shots, while Warriors goalie Matthew Johnson stopped 29.
On Sunday, the Canadiens hit the road to take on the Wainwright Bisons, where the team lost 4-1, with Devin Kootenay scoring the Canadiens’ lone goal. Once again, Joly would play a role in stopping the scoring floodgates from opening, by stopping 81 shots, while the Bisons’ goalie stopped 12. Block was pleased with his goalie’s performance, but noted the team as a whole was missing players who were committed elsewhere, which contributed to the loss.
While the team continues to add players to the list of 23 players registered right now, “we’re going to have these nights were we look disjointed. That’s just normal,” said Block, who was still optimistic for the upcoming season, as the team goes through this rebuilding year.
