St. Paul Canadiens looking to oust tough Bisons team

Canadiens forward Brody Green crashes in the crease to score the go-ahead goal in Game 4 against the Wainwright Bisons.

The St. Paul Canadiens will look to use home ice to their advantage on Tuesday night with the chance to advance to the NEAJBHL Final.

The Wainwright Bisons staved off eliminated in Games 4 and 5 after the Canadiens started the series 3-0, which heads back to the Clancy Richard Arena tonight.

The Bisons scored three goals in four minutes on Saturday night from Cole Johnson, Quinn Johnson and Tre Doyon to take a two goal lead in Game 5 and hang on to win 5-3.

It was a similar the night before in Game 4, except it was St. Paul who went down 3-0 early in the second period before roaring back with goals from Janson Pashniak, Shane Witney, and Nathan Degraves.

Scott Thackeray and Tre Doyon gave Wainwright third period goals to win 5-4 after Brody Green gave the team a chance for the sweep.

“I was proud of the way we battled back,” said Coach Shawn Germain after Friday’s Game 4.

“Obviously you don’t want to blow a third period lead, but those things do happen and we just need to learn from it and move onto tomorrow.”

The Canadiens find themselves on their heels for the first time this postseason after back to back losses.

Perhaps the Bisons are showing some of the championship resiliency you’d expect from a team on the brink of elimination.

Wainwright has the last four NEAJBHL titles and been a league finalist for the past seven seasons.

The Canadiens made the final two in 2016-17 but are looking to end a 48 year drought without a Junior B league championship.

“We love the challenge and we feel like we’re a well conditioned hockey club and we’re ready for it.”

Nathan Degraves