The St. Paul Canadiens played two games over the weekend, with both games needing extra periods of play before an eventual winner was decided.
On Oct. 3, the Canadiens travelled to Cold Lake for an NEAJBHL matchup against the Ice.
Cold Lake netted the first two goals of the game, getting out to an early lead in the contest. The Canadiens would bring it close as the first period waned, however, with a Tyler Bunce goal in the final minute of the frame.
The Canadiens tied things up early into the second with a Roddy MacDougall goal. Cold Lake regained the lead about halfway through the period, but St. Paul’s Ryley Wozniak scored two unanswered goals to put the Canadiens back ahead.
The only scoring in the third was a shorthanded goal by the home team Ice, which meant that the game would be heading into overtime.
The two teams skated scoreless throughout the overtime periods, which meant that a shootout would be needed to decide the victor.
St. Paul’s first two shooters, Pierre Beaudoin and Jamie Wozniak, were denied in the shootout, while Cold Lake’s shooters both netted goals, earning the Ice a narrow 5-4 win.
The Canadiens returned to their home ice for a matchup with the Killam Wheat Kings on Oct. 4.
St. Paul won the opening faceoff and charged down the ice to score the game’s first goal a mere six seconds into the contest. Ryley Wozniak was credited with the score.
“It’s obviously a good start, but it’s how you follow it up,” said Coach Joe Young, after the game. “We were a little bit sloppy in the last half of the first and through the second.”
Sure enough, it would prove to be the only goal of the first period. When the second period began it was all Killam, as they were able to net three unanswered goals to start the frame.
“We just stopped skating,” Young said. “We weren’t communicating on the ice. You can have the best team in the world, but you’ve got to communicate when you’re out there, and you can’t get caught watching.”
In response, the Canadiens came back to score four unanswered goals of their own. Tanner Hellquist, Jordyn Wozniak, Mikael Beaudoin and Matthew Boulianne each had a goal in the second, making it a 5-3 game for St. Paul.
Killam, however, managed a late-period goal of its own, netting one with only 7.6 seconds left to play. The score at the second break in action was 5-4 for St. Paul.
The visiting team found the back of the net again with 12:14 to go in the third, tying things up. The score would remain knotted as the clock ran out, forcing overtime.
Nothing was decided after five minutes of four-on-four action, forcing a second overtime frame.
With 53.3 seconds left in the three-on-three double overtime period, the Canadiens were able to break things open when Bryton Beattie deflected a low shot right into the back of the net.
“I just dragged the middle and looked to the net,” Beattie said. “The puck was thrown low, and it hit my stick and bounced in.”
The game marked the second consecutive night that the Canadiens would have to go to extra periods before a winner was decided.
“It’s a tough league,” Young said. “We got home pretty late last night and then we go to double overtime again tonight . . . It helps down the road for sure, because you know you can pull them off.”
The Canadiens are sitting in fourth place in the NEAJBL, with two wins, one loss, and one shootout loss, totaling five points in the standings.
“It’s early in the season, we’re getting better, and the sky’s the limit for this team,” Young said.
