Canadiens Thankful for a 4 Point Weekend

St. Paul defeats rivals Saddle Lake & Cold Lake on Thanksgiving Weekend

The Clancy Richard arena was host to two St. Paul Jr B Canadiens’ rivalry games over the Thanksgiving weekend. Friday night when the Saddle Lake Warriors were in town and then Saturday night with the Cold Lake Ice. St. Paul prevailed in both matches thanks to sticking to their systems and game plan, says Head Coach of the Jr B Canadiens Joe Young.

On Friday the Warriors were in town and gave up five goals in the first 20 minutes of play. The Zach Attack opened the scoring with Zach Bendall from Captain Zach Sylvestre at 2:10, followed up with a goal from Sylvestre off Ryan Rancier at 8:08. Less than a minute later  Braydon Burak got one past Warrior’s goalie Shaq Steinhauer with the help of Arron Gagne  and Jareh Gray. Kona Jackson from Jared Malo and Sylvestre made it a 4-0 game and Sylvestre finished the period with an unassisted goal, giving him 4 points in the game in the first period.

“We played very well the first two periods. We set a goal not to give up any points, and that’s what we did.” Coach Young says the club was able to put up six more goals to make it a 11-0 game at the end of 40 minutes. Goals in the second going to Brayden Goulet, Rancier, Bendall, Roddy MacDougall, Rancier, and Gagne.

“Obviously, they’re a team that’s rebuilding, like we were five years ago,” Coach Young says the Warriors put up a great fight and hes been there before, in a rebuilding phase. “We wanted to make sure it was a game where we didn’t get too sloppy. We didn’t score any goals in the third period.” The Warriors pulled goalie Steinhauer after the second and were able to hold off the Canadiens with DJ Auger in net. The Canadiens had David Rupp between the pipes, putting up the first shut out of the season for St. Paul.  “It’s a tough game to play sometimes, because it’s a little bit sloppy out there. You don’t want to get into bad habits, especially when you’re playing a team like Cold Lake the next night.” Canadiens would win the game 11-0.

The Cold Lake Ice would prove to be a little tougher competitors for the Canadiens on Saturday evening, with a more back-and-forth game against the rivals with Tyler Kwiatkowski in net for the Canadiens. “It was a good game,” says Coach Young. “I was kinda worried about how we were going to come out from playing the night before, but we came out strong.”

The Canadiens opened the scoring just forty seconds into the first, with an unassisted goal going past Ice’s net minder, Nathan Dancy, from Morgan Greve. The Ice fired back at 12:26 with a goal from Mikhail Desjarlais, assists going to Guillaume St-Gelias and Chase Brown. “We had a ton of pressure on them. [The Ice] battled hard all game.”

The Ice got the go-ahead in the second from Jason Hamilton. Greve would tie it up for the Canadiens, with his second goal of the evening. Ryley Wozniak made it a 3-2 game for the Canadiens at 17: 40, but the thrill was short-lived, as the Ice’s captain, Curtis Witney tied it up at 18:10, before going into the final 20 minutes of play. “The Ice are going to give us a battle, every time we play them. They’re just a hard-working club.”

Hamilton would open the scoring again in the third to break the tie, again short-lived as the Canadiens fired back from Ryan Rancier to tie it up 4-4 and forcing extra time. “Every game you play, there’s always something different that happens. We came out good and then had a second period that the guys regretted afterwards,” says Coach Young. “It’s just one of those games, you have to battle, right to the end.”

Morgan Greve  was the overtime star, not only winning the game for the Canadiens with a beauty of a goal from Zach Bendall; but it also served as Greve’s hat trick goal. “I told the guys after the game – good hockey clubs need to find a way to win. It’s not always going to be pretty. But at the end of the day, if it’s two points, we’re going to take it,” states Coach Young.

The Canadiens are home to the Onion Lake Border Chiefs this Friday, check LCN’s Sports Calendar for a full list of home games and WIN tickets to the games on LCN’s contest page.