The Frog Lake T-Birds travelled to St. Paul on Jan. 16 for a matchup with the Canadiens. A high-scoring affair saw the teams go back and forth through the end of the second period, but the home team Canadiens eventually pulled away with a convincing 11-5 win.
The scorekeeper was busy from the first period on, with six total goals netted in the opening frame. Darrell Stranger, Spencer Kilbrei, Dyson Roy, and Roddy MacDougall were the scorers for St. Paul in the first, while Lonnie Dixon and Gordon Laderoute had a goal each for the T-Birds.
“The boys dumped it in and played hard. The first period was really good, energetic,” MacDougall said after the contest. “We were sticking to our game plan.”
According to Canadiens’ coach Joe Young, that game plan including peppering the Frog Lake goalie with as many shots as possible.
“We wanted to get pucks to the net,” Young said. “We know they have a good goalie, and we wanted to get as much rubber to the net as possible.”
The plan was working, as St. Paul outshot Frog Lake 21-9 in the opening period – a trend that would continue throughout the night.
Frog Lake netted the first two goals of the second period – scored again by Dixon and Lederoute – tying thing up at four goals apiece. The Canadiens responded with three goals of their own, aided in part by a five-on-three power play late in the period. Mikael Beaudoin, MacDougall and Roy were credited with the goals.
“Those are moments that you have to capitalize on, and we did that,” Young said of the late-period advantage. “We were fortunate there, and we shut them down the rest of the way.”
The Canadiens controlled the play in the third, outscoring their opponent three goals to one. Ryley Wozniak, Tyler Bunce and Beaudoin found the back of the net for St. Paul in the third, while Sullivan Baptiste netted one for Frog Lake. The final score read 11-5 for the home team, and the final tally of shots showed a 60-36 advantage for St. Paul.
“Quite honestly I don’t think we came with a very good effort tonight. You could tell by the score, 11-5, it’s just not good enough,” said T-Birds assistant coach John Quinney. “We kept pace, there was some good individual effort that kept us in that game, but we can’t face 60 shots and expect to win.”
Moving forward, the two teams have slightly different goals as the last few weeks of NEAJBHL play out. While the Canadiens are hoping to build momentum for the playoffs, the T-Birds are just hoping for a shot at post-season play.
“Our main goal is to start winning games throughout the rest of the year so that we can make a playoff spot,” Quinney said, adding that to do so, they will need to step up their efforts. “Just from start to finish you have to bring your A game. This is what happens when you take a night off.”
Canadiens versus Rangers
The Canadiens travelled to Vegreville on Jan. 14 to take on the Rangers. St. Paul was outscored 2-1 in the first, and ended up losing the contest by the same margin, falling short to the tune of a 5-4 loss.
“It really wasn’t the effort we were looking for,” said Young. “This time of year, with our record, sometimes you get a little complacent, and we definitely did that on Wednesday. Vegreville is a hardworking club.”
Roy, Bunce, Jordyn Wozniak, and Ryley Wozniak each scored for St. Paul in the contest.
Warriors versus Rangers
The Saddle Lake Warriors suffered a 7-1 loss at the hands of the Vegreville Rangers on Jan. 16.
The home team Rangers set the tone early with a 2-0 score after one period of play. The Warriors’ lone goal came off the stick of Riel Bruised Head in the second period.
The Warriors travel to Lloydminster on Jan. 21 for a matchup with the Bandits.
Canadiens versus Bandits
The Canadiens lost a home game to the Lloydminster Bandits on Jan. 17, falling 4-3 in the contest.
The Canadiens found themselves down by two goals early in the game, and responded with two of their own, scored by Mikael Beaudoin and Kilbrei. A late-period Bandits goal in the second put the Canadiens down by one heading into the third.
The teams traded goals in the third, with St. Paul’s score coming from Ryley Wozniak. It wasn’t quite enough to earn the win, though, causing the home team to come up just one goal short on the night.
