Jr. Canadiens look to tame Tigers in NEAJBHL semi-finals

Quinn Szpak receives his two NEAJBHL awards. Image: St. Paul Jr Canadiens.

After dispatching the Onion Lake Border Chiefs, the St. Paul Jr. Canadiens now truly embark on their post-season run. 

As the league’s best team through the regular season, the Canadiens (27-4) now will take on the Vermilion Tigers (20-9-1-1). 

During the regular season, the Canadiens won three out of four head-to-head matchups, with the lone Vermilion win coming on Dec. 15. 

Otherwise, St. Paul put together 5-1, 3-1, and 7-2 victories on Vermilion. 

Onion Lake, winless during the regular season, put up little resistance in St. Paul’s first round. 

Scoring a total of 52 goals, the Border Chiefs could only muster only three tallies themselves in the series. 

Kaden Cardinal, William Chemago, Kelton McAuley, and Isaak Watters each had 10-plus points in the series. 

The Vermilion Tigers will also have four straight wins heading into Game 1 vs the Canadiens, but had no trouble in the end ousting the Killam Wheat Kings. 

So far, it’s been a drama-free NEAJBHL playoffs. Each of the first round series ended in sweeps. 

The Wainwright Bisons will host the Lloydminster Bandits in the 2-3 matchup.  

Game 1 at the Clancy Richard Arena is Friday night at 8:00pm, and Game 2 is at Sunday evening at 6:00pm.

Vermilion will host Game 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.

Accolades

The St. Paul Canadiens tremendous season made them consistent fixtures for NEAJBHL awards.

• Top Scorer: Quinn Szpak
• Rookie of the Year: Quinn Szpak
• Top Goalie: Mitchell Webb
• Coach of the Year: Corey deMossiac

Quinn Szpak’s awesome rookie season saw him put up an impressive 37 goals and 31 assists for a 78 point campaign.

Mitchell Webb boasted some of the best goaltending stats in the league. He had a record of 13-3-1, with a 2.13 goals against average, and .911 save percentage, in his first full campaign.

This was Corey deMossiac’s second full season behind the Canadiens bench since was reinserted into the role in 2022.