A new season of North Eastern Alberta Junior B Hockey is now in full swing, with the St. Paul Canadiens and Saddle Lake Warriors taking to the ice last weekend for their first regular season games of the year.
On Saturday night, the Saddle Lake Warriors travelled to St. Paul for a matchup with the Canadiens.
St. Paul was able to light up the scoreboard early and often, coming out to a strong 5-2 lead by the end of the first period. Goal scorers in that frame for St. Paul were Jalel Abougouche with two, Pierre-Andre Beaudoin, Spencer Kilbrei and Tyler Bunce.
The Warriors’ Kevin Krengnatak and Matt Goold also scored in the first.
It was more of the same in the second, with the Warriors scoring four unanswered goals to pull away to a commanding lead. Abougouche had another goal in the frame, and Andre Kuznetsov, Mikael Beaudoin, and Roddy MacDougall each had one goal in the second.
The Warriors managed some offence of their own in the third with two goals scored by Tyler Haineault, but it wasn’t enough to match the Canadiens, who scored another four goals in the final frame of the contest.
MacDougall had another in the third, and Ryley Wozniak, Pierre-Andre Beaudoin, and Bunce each finding the net in the period. The final score read 13-4 for the team from St. Paul.
“We want to play a very structured game around here, and if we do that we’re going to have success,” Canadiens Coach Joe Young said. “We don’t want to take a night off. We want to create an identity with this team where when we show up to play, we know what we’re going to do.”
According to Pierre-Andre Beaudoin, playing against the Warriors adds another level of intensity to the matchup.
“This is a big rivalry every year,” he said. “Just because they’re so close, and they get a bunch of fans out here as well, and we get a bunch of fans in their barn.”
The Canadiens kicked off their season at home on Sept. 26 with a home matchup against the Cold Lake Ice.
St. Paul was able to score two goals to Cold Lake’s one in the first period, with Ryland Fisher and Bryton Beattie both finding the back of the net for the home team.
In the second, however, the Ice stormed back, netting two unanswered goals to make the score 3-2 heading into the third.
The Canadiens managed another two goals in the final frame, scored by Tyler Bunce and Bryton Beattie, but it wasn’t enough to match the Ice’s three third period scores. The final tally read 6-4 in favour of the visiting Cold Lake squad.
“I thought it went well,” Young said of the team’s opener. “We were in it the whole game. We had a mental lapse there for about five minutes and they got a couple quick ones.”
Pierre-Andre Beaudoin was also happy with the performance, especially considering their opponent’s recent success.
“To compete against one of the top teams in the league is huge,” he said. “Lots of positives out of that game for sure.”
Overall, Pierre-Andre Beaudoin was happy with his team’s performance over opening weekend. “We wanted to send a message to the league that we’re not going to be pushovers anymore. We’re here to compete,” he said.
