Ice take Battle of the Lakeland versus Canadiens

The Cold Lake Jr B Ice fought hard to secure two points against rivals, the St. Paul Canadiens on Saturday evening at Imperial Oil Place. The Ice took it to the game 3-1, to tie up the Battle of the Lakeland series at one game a piece.

Cold Lake took to the ice in bright pink jerseys to support Anti-Bullying Night at the rink. Head Coach of the Ice, Scott Hood, had a good feeling going in, “we have a lot of guys tonight and we want to show our support for the community.” Wearing a pale pink button up, Hood said he was happy too see that crowds and the players show up for the game. “We have to two guys come back in the line up from injuries and we have three midget players in the line up. We’re doing the same as everybody else, battling through it.”

Head Coach of the St. Paul Canadiens, Joe Young, says the club needs to bring the intensity, “if we have the same energy, as we had last time against them, and the same style of play; we should be okay.”

The game was a battle, for sure. The Ice put up the first goal,  Steven Kufflick flew past Canadiens’ goalie, Michael Davis at 5:28, with the help of Jonah Henderson & Shane Whitney. It was a 1-0 game at the end of 20 minutes. During the intermission, midget player, Mitchell Bibeau talks on his experience with the Ice, “it’s really fun, they welcomed me in, nicely.” His older brother, Jonathan is a regular for the Jr B squad, “it’s really nice to get some ice time with him,” says the young player. “We’ve been outplaying [St. Paul}, coach wants us to do a better job getting out of the zone. If we keep the pressure on, we’ll close this down.”

Into the second, the Ice got the all-important two goal lead when Bryce Schultheiss put up a goal; helper going to Austin Power. The Canadiens were able to close the gap, some, when  Sean Greene made it a 2-1 game at the end of 40 minutes.  Kyle Crawford & Nicholas Klassen recorded helpers on the Greene goal. Canadiens’ Arron Gagne, “it’s a really physical game out there and we’ve got to keep the pace up and keep hitting them; get the puck in the net.”

The physicality would keep up in the third period, but hitting the back of the net proved to be a problem for the Canadiens. The Ice on the other hand were able to find the mess, early in the third period, Coltan Buchta with Mikael Munger & Ethan Lacrocque, made it a 3-1 game. A scrum at 13:22 would send four Canadiens and three Ice players to the sinbin to re-evalute their choices, while the clock ticked down. It would be an Ice win.

“I thought we put in the best effort we could,” Canadiens’ Head Coach, Joe Young, says a short bench and key injuries contribute to the loss in Cold Lake, “it got down to the end, and we were trying to make lines up as we go. I give credit to our APs, they played well. It just wasn’t our night.”

Head Coach of the Cold Lake Jr B Ice, Scott Hood says he was overall happy, “it’s the same message we give at every game, every intermission. Hockey is a hard-fought game. St. Paul has a good team, they’re going to move up the standings, just like we have. We deserved that win and we’re finally getting some breaks.”

The Ice took Vermilion the evening before 6-3 “We gotta keep playing and get better every night,” the Ice would go on to Lac La Biche on Sunday to meet the Clippers; unfortunately, the club fell 7-3. Making it a 4 point weekend for the club. Next up, Frog Lake on Friday at Imperial Oil Place.

The Canadiens were 0 for 2 over the weekend, falling to Frog Lake, at home, on Friday evening, 5-3. Next up Lac La Biche in St. Paul on Friday.