Canadiens and Ice to meet first time this season

Players shake hands after the St. Paul Canadiens eliminate the Cold Lake Ice last season.

It’s a rematch of a good playoff matchup.

The St. Paul Canadiens (3-1) will host the Cold Lake Ice (3-3) on Friday night, the first time these teams have met since the NEAJBHL playoffs last season.

Both teams are coming off a big win. The Ice pulling out a 4-3 shootout win against reigning league champs Wainwright Bisons and the Canadiens avenging their loss to the Vegreville in a 6-1 victory.

Captain Brayden Goulet scored four unanswered goals to wrestle the team lead with five.

“He can heat it up,” said coach Shawn Germaine.

“He’s one of those guys. He does everything right on a night-in, night-out basis.”

Sitting in the thick of a more competitive league this year, the Canadiens ousted the Ice in five games last season.

Then they’ll face the Lac La Biche Clippers (4-3) on Sunday.

“It’s gonna be a real tough weekend. I think this league is really evened out over the past year. I think every night’s gonna be a tough game, one through eight, which is great for the league,” said Germaine.

“We obviously have a tough matchup against Cold Lake on Friday and coming off a real good win against Wainwright…we got our work cut out for us this week.”

Ice head coach Scott Hood said Cold Lake’s been dealing with injuries, which they’re hoping to get healthy from throughout the week.

He’s liked the look of the team through six games.

“Some teams can say the same thing. We could be 5-1. We lost to Killam with two seconds left. We blew the game in Vegreville where we were outshot and our goalie had a rough start,” said Hood.

“Other than the 7-1 loss, we’ve been in all of our games.”

The Canadiens feature a handful of players from Cold Lake and two former Ice players.

“We’ve got quite a few kids actually from Cold Lake area, so obviously that’s always exciting for them to be able to play against their hometown team or guys, they know there’s always bragging rights on the line.

“Hopefully we’ll be up for that game and we just want to as a community and as a team come out and play well for them.”