Saints marching toward AJHL title
Ganie scores twice to spark 3-1 victory and put Okotoks on brink of elimination
The Spruce Grove Saints took a stranglehold in the Alberta Junior Hockey League final against the Okotoks Oilers on an emotional night on Monday at the Grant Fuhr Arena.
Logan Ganie scored twice to lead the Saints to a 3-1 victory over the Oilers, giving them a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Chris Van OsShaw scored the other for Spruce Grove while goaltender Nolan Kent made 19 saves.
Regan Doig scored for Okotoks and goaltender Riley Morris made 14 saves.
Game 4 of the series is Tuesday (7 p.m.) in Spruce Grove.
The Saints are a perfect 11-0 so far in the playoffs after sweeping the Whitecourt Wolverines and the Grande Prairie Storm in the previous two rounds.
Prior to the game, the Saints took the warm-up in jerseys honouring former teammates Parker Tobin and Conner Lukan, who were among the 16 people who died in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 6.
Tobin and Lukan had both played for Spruce Grove before being traded to Humboldt. It was the first home game for the Saints since the accident.
Spruce Grove won the first two games of the series in Okotoks on the weekend.
Both teams also gathered around the circle at centre ice for a moment of silence for Tobin and Lukan.
Ganie opened the scoring 2:15 into the contest on the power play. The 18-year-old out of Irma, Alta., took a pass at the right faceoff circle from Parker Saretsky and snapped a shot over the shoulder of Morris.
Ganie increased the Saints lead at 10:52 with another laser to the top corner, but this time from the opposite circle. The two goals increased Ganie’s playoff total to four.
Van Os- Shaw gave Spruce Grove a 3-0 lead with 1:01 left in the period, outmuscling an Oilers defenceman behind the Okotoks net, then collecting the puck out in front, before roofing a sharpangle shot over Morris.
Van Os-Shaw, 20, leads AJHL playoff scoring with 11 goals and 19 points in 11 games. The Regina, Sask., product was acquired from Humboldt in the off-season and won the AJHL scoring title.
The Oilers tried to pay special attention to Van Os-Shaw throughout the contest, attempting to be physical with him at every opportunity.
Okotoks came out hard in the second period and pulled to within a goal on Doig ’s marker at 6:28 of the second. The Oilers forward beat Kent from in close.
Spruce Grove nearly restored their three-goal lead with seven and-a-half minutes left in the period when forward Seth Fyten got to a rebound in front of the Oilers net but was unable to find the target.
Late in the period, Kent made a number of excellent saves to keep the Oilers from cutting the deficit to a goal.
The Oilers dominated in the third, which seemed to be played exclusively in the Saints end. Okotoks, however, was unable to cut the deficit as Spruce Grove did an excellent job of getting plenty of bodies behind the puck.
Spruce Grove had a couple of chances to ice the game, but were unable to find the net on the few odd man rushes they did generate.
Ganie had an excellent opportunity to notch a hat trick, but was denied by Morris on a two-on-one rush late in the contest.
The Saints can claim their fifth AJHL championship in the past nine seasons with a victory on Tuesday. They won their last title in 2015.