It’s hard to believe that with just two losses this season, the St. Paul Canadiens no longer hold the top spot in the league. But with a 3-2 loss to Killam at home on Friday night, the Canadiens have fallen to second place in the NEAJBHL.
Wainwright snuck past the Canadiens this week with a pair of wins, bringing their season record to 21-3-0 for a total of 42 points. St. Paul sits just behind them with 41 points and a record of 20-1-1. It’s important to note, however, that St. Paul still has two games in hand over the Bisons, giving them a late-season points advantage over Wainwright.
After their loss to Killam, St. Paul bounced back in a big way at home against the Frog Lake T-Birds on Saturday night. Frog Lake has given St. Paul more trouble than any other team this year, and was the only other team to have defeated the Canadiens prior to Friday’s matchup against Killam.
The T-Birds had a great scoring chance with a shot right off the faceoff, but Tyler Kwiatkowski was quick to flash the leather for a great glove save. Immediately after the play, Brayden Goulet had a great scoring chance just in front of the net, but he put the puck just wide. He redeemed himself moments later, however, scoring on a setup from Cam Smyl.
Frog Lake tied the game at one goal each with a shot from Kwiatkowski’s right, beating him glove-side. Canadiens’ captain Zach Sylvestre buried a power play goal right in front of the net with six minutes remaining in the period to restore the Canadiens’ lead.
In the final few minutes of the first, while the Canadiens were shorthanded, Goulet snagged a loose puck on and came down the ice with Sylvestre on a two-on-one. Goulet put the puck top shelf for his second goal of the night and to put the Canadiens up by two.
“I gave a look over to Sylvestre on the play,” Goulet said after the game, “And as soon as I saw the Frog Lake defenceman move in to cover him, a shot opened up for me and I was lucky enough to put it in the net.”
The Canadiens were set to go into the first intermission up 3-1, but an unlucky clearing attempt by Kwiatkowski left the net wide open, and Frog Lake intercepted the puck and scored an easy goal to end the period.
The second period began with a great power play goal by Ryley Wozniak, but Frog Lake continued their assault by scoring shortly after. The Canadiens took full control of the game halfway through the period.
Roddy MacDougall scored back-to-back goals twelve seconds apart, extending the Canadiens’ lead to three goals. Sylvestre ended the night with his second goal of the game on a great centering pass from Zach Bendall, wrapping up the scoring at 7-3.
Regarding the T-Birds’ ability to maintain a close game for the first half of the matchup, Coach Joe Young spoke highly of the team's’ skill and style of play.
“They're a very talented team, and they play a totally different style than anyone else in the league. They stretch their guys pretty far along the ice to make long offensive passes. They have good team speed, and that works really well for them, and they are able to score goals because of it. But if we can take advantage of it, then we get a lot of odd-man rush opportunities like we did tonight.”
Captain Zach Sylvestre mentioned the need to strengthen the Canadiens’ defense against Frog Lake to avoid further goal-for-goal situations.
“We struggle defensively at times against some of the more offensive-minded teams like Frog Lake,” said Sylvestre. “For some reason, they seem to be able to pick us apart way too easily, so I want to tighten up on the back end in the New Year.”
He added, “That being said, I’m super proud of the way our team has played so far this year. We’ve only lost two games, and we’ve won 20. It’s been a lot of fun, and we have a very skilled team. We communicate great on and off the ice, and we all get along really well. That makes for a great playing environment.”
St. Paul has one more game before the holiday break, on the road against Wainwright. The boys will return to play at home on Jan. 6, against the Onion Lake Border Chiefs.
