The St. Paul Jr. B Canadiens made a statement this past weekend, defeating one of the team’s biggest rivals, the Killam Wheat Kings, on Friday and Saturday night.
Friday night, the Canadiens made the trip to Killam and dominated the night, finishing with a score of 6-1. Roddy MacDougall scored the opening point of the game in the first period.
The second period saw a lot of action between the pipes, with two goals scored by Canadiens’ player Brayden Goulet, and one by Morgan Greve. The period also saw the lone goal scored on the night by the Wheat Kings.
The third period saw Canadiens’ Arron Gagne score an unassisted goal, while the Wheat Kings missed on a penalty shot. Braydon Burak scored the final Canadiens’ goal on the night.
Saturday night offered the Canadiens a bit more of a test, while they played in their home opener at the Clancy Richard Arena.
Head coach Joe Young admits that his team played really well on Friday night, but struggled during the first period at home on Saturday.
The team was able to pull themselves together though, and held on to win the game 4-2.
Young says that these are the exact type of games the team has to win if they want to be a championship team.
“When we can get these (games) under out belt, everything falls into place.”
He added, “We knew we were playing a team that went to the finals last year . . . We basically made a statement.”
A number of players on the Canadiens had strong weekends, including one of the team’s assistant captains Ryley Wozniak who netted two of the four Canadiens’ goals on Saturday night, and assisted in another.
“We had a great start to the season this weekend. Starting off 2-0 is big for us, and I hope we can keep rolling from there,” said Wozniak, after the game. “Everyone played good and we will only get better as the season goes on.”
Young says the Canadiens have a very determined team this year, which helped in the opening weekend success. St. Paul will be hosting Jr. B provincials this season, and many of the players have some goals they want to accomplish, explains the coach.
From the team’s goaltending to every other position, Young believes this year’s team is a strong one. He is already seeing good chemistry between the players, and “it’s only going to get better.”
The Canadiens have a new captain leading the team this year, and Zach Sylvestre is already proving he can lead the team to success.
“I think he did what we knew he could do,” says Young, when speaking about Sylvestre. “He’s a very intimidating player in our league,” and there is a lot of respect out there for Sylvestre.
The Canadiens will now face off against the Saddle Lake Warriors on Friday night at 8 p.m., at the Clancy Richard Arena, and then the team will host the Cold Lake Ice the next day.
