St. Paul Canadiens down Ice in 6 games in the Battle of the Lakeland

St. Paul Canadiens backup goaltender Brendan Williams, Sheldon Scrannage, and Orrie Wood lead the handshake line with the Cold Lake Ice after winning the series on Sunday night at Imperial Oil Place.

The St. Paul Canadiens scored three goals in four minutes in the second period and Hayden Lyons continued his stellar goaltender as the Canadiens defeated the Cold Lake Ice 4-1 in Game 6 to win the series.

Despite losing the first two games of the series, the St. Paul Canadiens took the next four to eliminate the Cold Lake Ice from the 2018-19 NEAJBHL playoffs.

The Canadiens will advance and play the top-seeded Wainwright Bisons.

“Definitely, we came out down only 1-0 after the first and we just let our foot off the gas,” said Ice coach Scott Hood.

“A couple quick goals really turned it around – it’s nice they didn’t back down, they battled until the end. It’s tough to keep at it when you’re down 4-1 and it’s the elimination game, but I’m proud of the guys and how we played this year. This is a young team, this is a young core here and we didn’t quit. Nobody expected us to win two games. No one else won two games in their first-round series.

“We just couldn’t score some goals. That’s been our problem all year. We’ve battled but scoring goals has been tough for us all year.”

Dyson Roy scored his second goal of the playoffs six minutes into the game, banking the puck off of Matt Henwood’s back as he crashed behind the net.

Then, it was a St. Paul flurry that put the nail in the Ice’s coffin.

Alex Astasiewicz, Zach Bendall, and Isaac Larocque-Wall each found the back of the net before the midway point of the game.

Donovan Bibeau scored before the end of the second frame, but it was too-little-too-late but Cold Lake. The deficit was too great.

Canadiens avenge last year’s loss

With the win, St. Paul atones for last year’s defeat to the Ice in the playoffs in a seven-game thriller.

Brayden Goulet finished the series with nine points (one goal, eight assists). His linemate Lane Wycotte had six points and Alex Astasiewicz scored three goals.

Hayden Lyons currently sits second in GAA (1.95 GAA) and save percentage (.938 sv%) amongst playoff netminders.

He’ll be a key in the next round for the Canadiens against the defending Provincial champions in Wainwright.

The Bisons swept the season series against St. Paul winning their last meeting 6-0.

Coltan Buchta and Donovan Bibeau moving on

Two players for the Cold Lake Ice have played their final games with the club, Coltan Buchta and Donovan Bibeau.

“We just had a talk in there and I said that these guys were young once like you guys are and they’ve battled game in and game out for us. We’ve been through some great games. We’ve lost some great leaders the four years I’ve been doing this and you lose another two good ones,” said Hood.

“Buchta just worked hard every shift. He’s a quiet leader but he showed his leadership on the ice. And Donny, he’s some high offensive skill, it’s tough to see them go. But we’ll move on.

“There’s definitely a good young core if we can keep these guys around.”