Two points separate the Saddle Lake Warriors and St. Paul Canadiens in the lower half of the North Eastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League after this weekend's games, which saw the Warriors come away with a win and a loss and the Habs with two losses.
Friday evening's matchup pitted the two sides at Manitou Kihew Arena where it was Warriors Centre Braedin Makokis-McGilvery who gave the home side an early lead just over a minute into the game. Saddle Lake added another shortly after when captain Cole Steinhauer completed a beautiful pass to Jared Cunningham for an easy tap in.
Outshooting the Habs 18 - 8 at the start of the second period, the Warriors continued to dominate both on the ice and on the scoreboard by making it three zip after Cunningham notched his second on the powerplay. Turnovers in the defensive zone proved to be a problem for the visitors and a quick wrist shot from Makokis-McGilvery extended the lead to four.
The visitors finally struck early in the third and made it seem as if a comeback was a possibility. Goals from forward Skyler Giroux and Anthony Garnier narrowed the lead to two. With tensions between the two rival teams at a high, a fight broke out with just under 10 remaining between Habs defensemen Jesse Parenteau and Warriors centremen Barry Partridge. St. Paul coach Tony Meger called a time-out at the three-minute mark and then pulled goalie Matthew Johnson, however the Habs lost the puck and Warrors Jordan Moosewah scored on the open net to end the game 5 - 2.
"I think we were fortunate our goalie played a really good game, especially early on," Warriors president Winston Lapatak said after the game. "He made a lot of key saves and gave us a chance to get our lines going."
"When we look up and down our lineup we feel we have probably one of the fastest teams in the league and I need to stress the fact these guys need to become comfortable with one another," he added. "It was only after the Christmas break that we started to put together what we have now."
Former Habs player Braedin Makokis-McGilvery, who is hoping to play Junior A next season, said his team needs to be more disciplined if it is going to win games against the teams in the top half of the division.
"Mainly we’ve got to stay out of the box," he said. "Tonight we had powerplays, but our guys tended to retaliate and then we'd end up having a four on four or five on five and just wrecking our chances. We have to stay disciplined and just play hockey."
The Habs had Saturday night off while Saddle Lake traveled to Lloydminster for a grueling 18 - 4 loss to the Bandits. The home side scored 14 unanswered goals before the Warriors finally got on the board with just over a minute remaining in the second period. One bright spot for Saddle Lake was forward Jared Cunningham who netted three of the team's four goals.
St. Paul headed to Wainwright for a Sunday afternoon tussle with the Bisons and looked to be involved in a tight scoring game until the second period when the home side started to flex its muscles. Aided by some questionable calls by the referee, Wainwright took advantage of the Habs' short bench and after the second period sat with a comfy 7 - 1 lead. The Canadiens' goal was scored shorthanded after forward Skyler Giroux out skated the defense before burying it with a backhand shot.
The third period started similar to the second as the Bisons scored five more to finish the game with a 12 - 2 victory. Dino Meger scored the only other goal for St. Paul.
"The guys were backchecking well tonight and kept their energy up," head coach Tony Meger said after the game. "I thought they worked hard. In the second period I was really proud of them. They really battled hard even with the penalties."
"I think he was on a power trip," he added regarding the ref. "Plain and simple. You couldn't even mention anything to him. He wasn't sure of his calls."
The Habs travel to Lloydminster this Friday while Saddle Lake battles the first place Ice from Cold Lake at home.
