The St. Paul Canadiens would take a 16 – 1 beating in the team’s Saturday night’s away game against the top-placed Cold Lake Ice, with the Canadiens’ lone goal coming from the team’s defenceman, Pierre Sparklingeyes, in the last two minutes of the first period.
Unfortunately, the Ice was already leading the hometown boys by 3 – 0 before Sparklingeyes’ unassisted goal, and after the Canadiens’ lone goal, the Ice’s offence unleashed 13 more goals, six in the second and another seven in the third, on the Canadiens.
“Saturday’s game was tough, we had a couple guys working on Saturday and we were short-staffed,” commented Aaron Block in a phone interview with the Journal on Monday morning. “We were close in the first period, and Cold Lake took over with the depth of four lines.”
The game was the Canadiens’ second loss of the week after the team lost its Friday away game against the Vermilion Tigers by a score of 8 – 2.
In last Friday’s game, Canadiens Skylar Giroux and Jessie Parenteau contributed goals in the first and second period respectively, with both goals’ assists going to Lyndon Johnson.
New player Corem Constant, a 6’3 forward from Saskatchewan, was on the ice for that game, according to Block, who noted that Constant “made some nice plays in that game and moved the puck around well.”
With six more games to go in the season, the Canadiens are battling for a playoff spot in the North East Alberta Junior B Hockey League with the Thorhild Titans, which shares the same number of points, but has one extra game in hand over the Canadiens.
“Our chances on making the playoffs rest on the our game against Thorhild,” explained Block, adding, “Dependent on how we do in that game, we’ll know if we make the playoffs or not, so that’s a big game for us.”
The Canadiens will face off against the Titans this Friday in an away game, and will meet up with local rivals the Saddle Lake Warriors at home on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
