Battle of the Lakeland: St. Paul Canadiens face Cold Lake Ice in playoff battle

It ought to be a special treat.

The St. Paul Canadiens and Cold Lake Ice prepare to begin their best-of-seven 1st round playoff matchup on Friday night.

Matchups between these two clubs are always intensely competitive, as the ‘Yens (21-12-2) finished 4th in the NEAJBHL to get home ice advantage against the Ice (15-20).

Playoff seedings came down to the last weekend of the regular season.

Cold Lake defeated Vermilion 4-2 on Saturday to lock into the 5th seed, nullifying Vegreville’s victory over St. Paul, which could have seen a leapfrog situation.

After St. Paul defeated Cold Lake twice in the season’s early stages, Cold Lake flipped the script later on.

On Dec. 21, 2024, the Ice won 4-3 in overtime to go into the holiday break, and then beat St. Paul again on Jan. 4 right after the pause 2-1.

The Canadiens then eked out a 2-1 victory just days later to win the season series.

One interesting storyline will be the acquisition of a Naim family member by each team: Ryder with St. Paul, Ali with Cold Lake.

Ryder Naim has been playing with the Lloyd Lancers U18AAA team. The defender has 3 goals and 7 assists.

Meanwhile Ali Naim has played all but two games with the Ice this season, after mulitple years with OHA Edmonton.

The last time these two clubs faced off in the playoffs was the quarterfinals in 2018-19. St. Paul defeated Cold Lake in six games.

Leaders:

Canadiens: 

• Kolby Miller (D) 18G, 19A, 37pts 
• Kelton McAuley (F) 18G, 17A, 35pts
• Aiden Ma (F) 17G, 18A, 35pts 
• Jayce Lessard (F) 11G, 19A, 30pts 
• Bryce Courtney (F) 13G, 16A, 29pts 

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• Boston Carter (G) 11-5-2, 4 SO, 2.78GAA, .894sv% 

Ice:  

• Brett Gascoigne (F) 18G, 15A, 33pts 
• Carter Breen (F) 17G, 16A, 33pts 
• Josh Butt (F) 13G, 12A, 25pts 
• Jager Fontaine (F) 7G, 17A, 24pts 
• Jared Cadieux (D) 7G, 13A, 20pts 

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Mark Peddle (G) 11-13, 1SO, 3.96GAA, .859sv%

Schedule

Game 1: Friday, Feb. 14 | Clancy Richard Arena. 8:00PM

Game 2: Saturday, Feb. 15 | Clancy Richard Arena. 7:30PM

Game 3: Monday, Feb. 17 | Imperial Oil Place. 5:00PM

Game 4: Thursday, Feb. 20 | Imperial Oil Place. 8:00PM

*Game 5: Saturday, Feb. 22 | Clancy Richard Arena. 7:30PM

*Game 6: Sunday, Feb. 23 | Imperial Oil Place. 5:00PM

*Game 7: Tuesday, Feb. 25 | Clancy Richard Arena. 8:00PM

(*If necessary)

Wainwright/Onion Lake drama

The Wainwright Bisons will now receive a bye as the number one seed. The Bisons were set to play the Onion Lake Border Chiefs, who just finished their second straight season winless, as all eight teams in the league make the playoffs.

According to NEAJBHL president, Keith Wilkinson, after pushback on social media under Wainwright’s post explaining they wouldn’t be playing the first round.

Some questioned why this wasn’t made public sooner, or the Onion Lake non-competitiveness situation addressed by the league earlier.

“Onion Lake Border Chief requested to not participate in the playoffs. The league had a zoom meeting on Feb 3 [sic] and listen to Onion Lake request which was granted. It had nothing to do with the Wainwright Bisons. The league is only clarifying the situation and does not do their league business on social media,” Wilkinson said.

There has not been a champion other than Wainwright since 2014-15, with no NEAJBHL final in 2019-20, or 2020-21.

The Bisons were defeated in 19-20 by the Canadiens, and were set to play the Lac La Biche Clippers at the time, before COVID shut the league down.

Other series

The Lloydminster Bandits will take on the Killam Wheat Kings in the 2 vs 7 quarterfinal. In fact, Lloyd took Game 1 on Thursday night 5-0.

They have the number one offence in the league, scoring 287 goals in 35 games, as well as the league’s leading scorer in Joel Webb.

Webb tallied 38 goals and 53 assists for 91 points.

As well, the Vermilion Tigers begin their first round against the Vegreville Rangers in the 3 vs 6 matchup.

Vermilion’s acquisition of Cade Meiklejohn, who began the season with the Bonnyville Jr. A Pontiacs, has injected even more offence in this team.

He has 16 goals and 11 assists in 27 games.