Canadiens hold off T-Birds for 2-0 Series Lead

Goalies go save for save in heated game

Friday, the St. Paul Canadiens and Frog Lake T-Birds renewed hostilities in game two of their second round match-up. Both Vinck and Kwiatkowski put up stellar nights in net for the second game in a row. St. Paul managed to come away with a 4-1 victory.

St. Paul came out firing in the first period putting up three goals. Dyson Roy, Brayden Goulet and Zach Sylvestre all tallied goals for the Canadiens. Frog Lake had three glorious chances in front of Kwiatkowski that missed the net due to last second deflections in front. The T-Birds only mustered one shot on net in the first. Chantz Vinck was sharp throughout the period facing 19 shots.

“You always gotta keep your head on a swivel, don’t need to get into the dirty stuff. They have a good powerplay.” Backup netminder David Rupp said about the game plan for the second period.

The second period carried over the intense play that had developed through much of the first. As Rupp had warned of, both teams battled penalty trouble. St. Paul took nine penalties in the second period, while Frog Lake was called for eight. There was no scoring in the second.

In the third, things calmed down substantially. Brandon Cunningham scored less than a minute into the period to draw the score within two for the T-Birds. The Cunningham marker was on the powerplay, and fueled the T-Birds to a big offensive push in the late going. Frog Lake doubled the Canadiens in shots for a total of 20-10 in the final frame. Ryley Wozniak would put away the game for St. Paul with three minutes left in the third on a blast from Morgan Greve that trickled through Vinck.

Final score was 4-1 for the Canadiens. The Lakeland Connect St. Paul Canadiens three stars were Dyson Roy (opening goal), Zach Sylvestre (goal and an assist) and Tyler Kwiatkowski (36 saves on 37 shots).

“You know what, we stuck to our game plan. Simple as that… I know it’s 92 shots (so far this series) but the team’s been playing well in front of me.” Tyler Kwiatkowski spoke of the Canadiens play in the defensive zone in games one and two on the Cornerstone Co-op Post-Game Show.

St. Paul now holds a 2-0 lead over the T-Birds headed to Frog Lake on Sunday for game 3. Sunday’s game time is 7 p.m. Lakeland Connect will be in Frog Lake covering the Canadiens once again thanks to our sponsors Cornerstone Co-op and Lake City Coach.