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Warriors look to 'get back into game shape'

The home crowd turned out in full force for the Saddle Lake Warriors Saturday’s night game against rivals, the St. Paul Canadiens, with the Warriors having reason to believe it could come out with a win, facing a depleted Canadiens team.
Despite the efforts of goalie Mike Newberger, Darrell Stranger scored four goals for the Canadiens in the team’s Saturday night matchup against the Warriors. Here he
Despite the efforts of goalie Mike Newberger, Darrell Stranger scored four goals for the Canadiens in the team’s Saturday night matchup against the Warriors. Here he can be seen celebrating his second goal of the night.

The home crowd turned out in full force for the Saddle Lake Warriors Saturday’s night game against rivals, the St. Paul Canadiens, with the Warriors having reason to believe it could come out with a win, facing a depleted Canadiens team. Instead, the third-ranked Canadiens would find a way to come out on top, with Darrell Stranger having an outstanding game and contributing four goals to give the team a 5- 2 victory.

“It was a disappointing loss,” said head coach Terry Ewasiuk, noting the Canadiens team was missing five players after a bruising encounter with the Vermilion Tigers on the previous night and that the Warriors should have been able to capitalize on this sore point. “I was hoping for a better outcome.”

The Warriors had clear-cut breakaways and plenty of scoring opportunities, taking 40 shots on Canadiens’ goalie Jared Lafond, while Warriors’ goalie Mike Newberger faced 28 in comparison.

“Every time, St. Paul scored on their chances,” said Ewasiuk, attributing the loss partly to some “major mistakes” made by veteran players. “We did get chances, we just didn’t finish. . . We’d miss a chance and they’d come to our end and score.”

Avid fans in the crowd noted they were seeing an improvement in their home team, despite the fact the Warriors sit at the bottom of the North Eastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League, with three wins and 21 losses.

Ewasiuk agreed the team was “200 per cent better than the beginning of the season,” but he said this only meant the expectations are higher for the team now as it progresses along its rebuilding direction.

The team opened up the scoring with a goal a few minutes into the first, courtesy of Preston Sparklingeyes. However, the Canadiens’ Jalel Abougouche followed up with a goal 10 minutes later, while Stranger got in his first goal of the night in the final minute of the first.

In the second period, the Warriors looked for a way to tie the 2-1 game, pushing back and generating offensive momentum against the Canadiens. But Stranger put the nails in the coffin of their hopes, scoring again with a little less than two minutes to go in the second, and another right before the buzzer sounded to complete the hat trick. Stranger would score again around midway of the third, while the Warriors’ Matt Cameron would shine a little light into the defeat, scoring the final goal of the night off an assist from Tyler Haineault.

One of the strategies in a game against a team that was missing players was to up the physical ante and wear the Canadiens down, but that didn’t work in this game, said Ewasiuk.

“Our players refused to play a hitting game,” he said, noting the team only took five penalties to the Canadiens’ four. He also felt the team’s conditioning was “rusty,” in this, its first game after the Christmas break.

“We need to get back into game shape,” he said, adding the more games, the better, since “we play better when we play more.”

The Warriors next face the Vegreville Rangers in an away game on Saturday, before coming back home to take on the second-ranked Killam Wheat Kings on Sunday. Puck drop is at 5 p.m. for the home game.

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