The St. Paul Junior B Canadiens travelled to Vegreville for a matchup against the Rangers on Dec. 17, and got back to their winning ways.
The last time the two teams met was a Dec. 5 matchup in St. Paul, one that the visiting Rangers were able to win 6-3. In the rematch, however, the Canadiens ended up skating away with an 8-1 win.
“We’re a pretty dominant team when we use our speed,” head coach Joe Young said in a Dec. 18 interview. “We came out last night and took the body well, we showed a lot of physical play.”
The team had some extra incentive leading into Wednesday night’s NEAJBHL contest.
“We weren’t too happy with our last performance in Wainwright, so there were some motivated kids in that room,” Young said, harkening back to St. Paul’s 7-0 loss to the Bisons on Dec. 13. “We also remember the last time that we played (Vegreville). They were pretty pumped that they beat us. It’s always good to have a long memory in this game, and that’s kind of what the boys had last night. They wanted to make a statement right off the bat.”
Young was happy with every facet of the game during their matchup with the Rangers.
“We played well in all three zones. We talked about the compete level before the game, and just playing a full 60-minute effort,” Young said. “It starts from the goaltending out, and we had really solid goaltending last night. We just fed off that, and worked the puck low in their zone, created a good forecheck, and got a lot of good scoring opportunities.”
The win moved the Canadiens back up into third place in the knotted NEAJBHL standings.
“You can’t have an off night,” Young said of the competitive league. “At the end of the year, everyone is going to be jockeying for position. You don’t want to go into the last weekend having to win two games to get to a certain spot where you want to be, so these games are crucial right now.”
The team will get a bit of a break over the holidays, as their Dec. 27 game against Killam has been rescheduled to Jan. 31. Young and his team are looking to make a big push after the calendar turns.
“We’ve been battling some injuries,” Young said. “We’re starting to get healthy, but guys are still banged up. Once we start being able to get our full roster out there, it’s going to get even better. The real season starts in the new year.”
Results from the Canadiens’ Dec. 20 and 21 games were unavailable due to the Journal’s early press deadline. The Saddle Lake Warriors were also in action over the weekend.
