The St. Paul Canadiens picked up a valuable two points with a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory against the Wainwright Bisons on Saturday at Clancy Richard Arena.
“We played really well in Vermilion (on Friday) and we carried over that momentum and we’re starting to tighten it down a little bit in the defensive zone,” head coach Joe Young said, referring to the Habs’ spirited 5-2 loss to the Tigers in Vermilion the night before. “We had a chance to win that game last night, just a couple of mental errors, but tonight we buttoned it down pretty good.”
The victory showed the strongest performance from the Canadiens this season. The team out-shot the Bisons, 32-28, in just less than 65 minutes of hockey to earn its third victory of the year, moving two points ahead of the Saddle Lake Warriors and into third place in the Northeastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League North division.
“We’re extremely proud of the guys, but I think one thing we need to realize here is that we can’t stop playing from here,” said Young. “Tonight was a big win for us but we’ve got to carry on the momentum into the next game and into the next practice. We need to get better every time we step on the ice.”
St. Paul was incredibly strong on the fore check against the Bisons, which Young says was integral to the team’s victory.
“(The fore check) created our winning goal,” Young said. “We were kind of snake-bitten around the net a little bit, but we just kept battling and plugging away.”
After a strong defensively minded first period with the score 0-0, the Habs fell behind in the second when Brett Larson beat goalie Austin Rediron to give the Bisons a lead after 40 minutes.
Entering the final frame down 1-0, the Habs took advantage of the situation by putting forth a hard hitting and offensively dominant third period.
Jalel Abougouche knotted things up for the Habs and brought life to Clancy Richard Arena when he finished off a pass from Skyler Giroux to beat Bisons goalie Shane Tomlinson.
Both goaltenders were outstanding in the tilt, putting up jaw-dropping saves on both ends of the ice to force an overtime period, but it was Rediron who left the ice with the victory, adding that it was an “unreal feeling to get the W.”
“The guy has been through a lot this year and he’s never complained. He’s probably faced a lot more shots than he’d want but the guy is a gamer, plain and simple,” Young said of Rediron’s performance this season.
“He comes here every night to compete to the best of his ability, and his ability is better than any other goalie in this league. He gives us a chance to win every night if we play well around him.”
The Canadiens carried their momentum over into four-on-four overtime, looking like a new team as they bullied the Bisons off the puck on the fore check, leaving Giroux on his own to slip the puck past Tomlinson on the backhand with 17 seconds left in overtime, giving St. Paul the 2-1 victory.
“I was just playing hard and driving to the net like the coach said,” Giroux said after the game. “It felt great, we had a bit of a rough few games there but we’ve picked it up.”
