Canadiens Shut Out 4–0 by Rival Ice in Thanksgiving Weekend Matchup

The St. Paul Canadiens hosted the Cold Lake Ice on Friday night at the Clancy Richard Arena, looking for redemption after falling 3–2 in their previous meeting. But this time, the Ice froze the Canadiens out completely, skating away with a 4–0 win.

Cold Lake’s offence came in steady waves—Shane Boland opened the scoring midway through the first, followed by second-period markers from Noah Fedor and Sam Sawchuk. Andrew Grzela sealed the deal with a short-handed goal in the third, capping off a disciplined defensive effort that kept the Canadiens off the scoreboard.

Despite the loss, St. Paul Head Coach Harvey Smyl said post-game that the team can’t pin the result on injuries or bad luck.

“We seemed to lack a little urgency early—probably the whole first,” said Smyl. “We didn’t kind of get going until five minutes into the second. You’ve got to give Cold Lake some credit. I thought they were together as a group, and their neutral zone play was really good.”

Smyl noted that the Canadiens did create more energy and scoring chances later in the game, but execution fell short.

“We had some opportunities, just didn’t have very good execution,” he said.

The coach also welcomed defenceman Noah Balmer into the lineup for his first game of the season, praising his physical play after returning from injury.

“Noah played really well. He hasn’t skated a whole lot and stepped in and did a real good job,” Smyl added.

While the Canadiens are expecting three to four players to return from injury next week, Smyl said the bigger challenge has been consistency in practice.

“We’ve had lots of guys missing practices,” he said. “We understand schooling and work, but we’ve got to get back into a regular groove.”

The Canadiens now head into a short Thanksgiving break before travelling to Vermilion next Friday to face the Rock, hoping to snap a three-game skid.

Scoring Summary
1st Period

• Shane Boland (Cold Lake) 7:31 — CLI 1, SPC 0

2nd Period

• Noah Fedor (Cold Lake) 18:15 — CLI 2, SPC 0

• Sam Sawchuk (Cold Lake) 13:39 — CLI 3, SPC 0

3rd Period

• Andrew Grzela (Cold Lake) SHG 7:51 — CLI 4, SPC 0

Penalty Summary

• St. Paul: Balmer (Interference), Flett (Charging)

• Cold Lake: Schreyer (2), Breen, Fedor

The Canadiens will look to regroup this week and come out stronger in Vermilion and Vegreville.

• Friday, Oct. 17: Canadiens in Vermilion versus Tigers 8:00pm
• Saturday, Oct. 18: Canadiens home Vegerville versus Rangers 7:30pm