The Saddle Lake Junior B Warriors and the St. Paul Canadiens experienced some tough losses on the ice this past weekend and now sit tied for last in the North Eastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League.
Thursday night saw the two bottom teams face off against one another and it was the visiting Warriors who claimed a dramatic 8 - 6 win over the Habs at the Clancy Richard Arena. The rivalry between the two teams was renewed with some heavy hits to open the game before Saddle Lake jumped out to an early two-goal lead heading into the second period. After extending the lead, the Canadiens finally answered when Anthony Garnier’s slapshot from the point beat Warriors netminder Coleman Waddell.
A shoulder injury sustained by Habs forward Dustin Ouellette forced him to leave the game. The home side scored quickly after to narrow the deficit to one. However, the Warriors stormed out of the gates early in the third by scoring three unanswered goals, at which point Habs head coach Tony Meger called a time out. His thirty-second pep talked seemed to have worked as the Canadiens staged a dramatic comeback reminiscent of the recent Canada - Russia game at the World Junior Hockey Tournament last week.
Another slapper from Garnier and two goals from Skyler Giroux pulled the Habs back within one in the third, but it was the Warriors who held firm and capitalized on a few turnovers to extend the lead to two. Not to be outdone, St. Paul’s Mackenzie Trach provided a great individual effort goal to restore a bit of pride and a sense of to be continued when the teams meet again this Friday in Saddle Lake.
“The boys get rattled, that’s been our problem all year,” Habs coach Tony Meger said after the game regarding his strategic decision to call a timeout. “I could see it happening again and all I wanted to do was just tell them if we play hockey we still got a chance and it seemed to work.”
Both teams were in action again Friday night as the Canadiens travelled to Cold Lake and the Warriors hosted the Vegreville Rangers. While St. Paul, which only had only seven skaters and two goalies for the game, were trounced 18 - 3 by the first place opponents, Saddle Lake got off to a good start with an early two-goal lead. Two Rangers’ powerplay goals within one minute of each other levelled the scoreline.
Saddle Lake captain Cole Steinhauer took a 10 minute misconduct penalty near the end of the first period and the team struggled early in the second. After a quick goal from Warriors forward Jordan Moosewah, Vegeville responded by scoring six unanswered and at the end of the second period held a four-goal lead.
Things didn’t get much better in the third as the Rangers added five more goals to win 13 - 6.
The Habs took Saturday night off to lick some wounds, but the Warriors were given little respite as they travelled to Vermilion for a 7 - 1 loss to the Tigers, ranked sixth in the division. The Tigers then made the trek to St. Paul a day later for a late afternoon tussle with the Canadiens on Sunday.
St. Paul opened the scoring two minutes in with a slap shot from just inside the blue line, but the lead didn’t last long as the Tigers took advantage of another depleted Canadiens squad. Outshooting their opponents 21 - 10 at the start of the second period, the Tigers continued to pressure the home side in the offensive zone and ended up tacking on five more goals in the second for a 10 - 3 lead heading into the third.
The game ended prematurely half way through the third when both teams were addressed major penalties and the Habs didn’t have enough players to continue. The final score was 12 -3.
“He (the ref) didn’t realize we were so short,” said Habs assistant coach Pierre deMoissac after the game.
Getting a full roster for each game has been a problem for the Canadiens, yet the coaches and team captain Rylan Couch feel they can turn things around in time to make the playoffs.
“The core guys that are here are coming together a lot better,” Couch said. “We’re starting to get it going, but once we get our full roster back we’ll be a pretty decent team. We still have pretty high spirits and we’re not going to give up.”
“We’re looking at picking up a few players,” deMoissac added. “The kids we have left are the ones that have been here all season. They’re the heart and soul of this team. Our main job now is to keep the kids coming for the rest of the year.”
