Saints back home in must-win situation
Spruce Grove faces new opponent in Washington’s Wenatchee Wild
The Spruce Grove Saints are in an unfamiliar position coming home to host the remainder of the Doyle Cup series against the Wenatchee Wild.
Spruce Grove lost just one game on their way to claiming the Alberta Junior Hockey League championship, but dropped the first two against the British Columbia Hockey League champions last weekend in the best-of-seven series to determine the Pacific representative at the RBC Cup Junior A national championship May 12-20 in Chilliwack, B.C.
Game 3 is Tuesday (7 p.m.) at the Grant Fuhr Arena in what could be considered a must-win encounter for the Saints. Spruce Grove does not want to be down 3-0 going into Game 4 on Wednesday.
“We were able to do it to teams three times in a row (go up 3-0 in a series),” said Saints head coach Bram Stephen. “We know it’s something that’s not easy to come back on. Game 3 is a pretty important game, for sure.”
Spruce Grove travelled to Wenatchee, Wash., for the first two games, falling 3-2 in overtime Friday and dropping a 3-0 decision on Saturday. Wenatchee scored two empty-net goals in the Game 2 win after breaking a scoreless tie midway through the third period.
“Both games were very tight,” Stephen said.
“The first game, they certainly outplayed us in terms of scoring chances and their speed was something certainly we had to get used to. The second game we probably had the majority of the scoring chances and weren’t able to cash in.”
With Wenatchee winning the first two games, the scene shifts to Spruce Grove for the remainder of the series. Had the teams split the first two games, they would have played a third in the central Washington city before coming to Alberta.
Stephen expects his team to be better after getting to know their opponents, who were the first American-based team to win
It’s a huge advantage playing the rest of the series at home. It’s a smaller building, and sometimes things as simple as that are a big thing for players.
the BCHL championship since the Bellingham Blazers in 1979. Spruce Grove won the AJHL title by beating the Okotoks Oilers in five games.
“We struggled in the first game to play with the same intensity that we did in Okotoks, and it was just a different atmosphere and different styles of play. It was a little difficult for us to get our heads around,” Stephen said. “But in Game 2, I thought we managed the game really well, we played a hard, physical brand, and I thought we gave ourselves chances. We just were not able to create much offensively, and defensively we were very strong.”
Never having played each other previously, it took time for the teams to develop an animosity toward each other. As the series extends, lack of animosity should no longer be an issue.
“I think the intensity of the series started to pick up in the latter part of Game 1,” Stephen said. “It’s definitely feeling each other out for a bit, it’s not only a different league, it’s a different style of play the teams play. It got pretty intense. Game 2 was a pretty physical game, and from all reports, it was one of the most physical games Wenatchee had played all year long.”
Playing at home, Spruce Grove are looking to get out to a lead, which they didn’t have in the first two games in Wenatchee. Wild forward AJ Vanderbeck scored the overtime winner in Game 1 after the Saints battled back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits.
August Von Ungern scored the winner in Game 2 at 11:29 of the third period, with Jasper Weatherby and Vanderbeck scoring empty net goals.
Spruce Grove out shot Wenatchee 31-27 in Game 2.
The Saints will go into the contest without AJHL MVP Chris Van Os-Shaw, who broke his finger in the league final, and forward Brett Trentham, who had three goals and five assists in 10 playoff games before getting injured.
Regardless, the Saints like that the rest of the series is at home, which could mean as many as five games.
“It’s a huge advantage playing the rest of the series at home,” Stephen said. “It’s a smaller building, and sometimes, things as simple as that are a big thing for players at this level and hometown crowd, last change. It’s a different standard of officiating, which I think will be a big one. All those things definitely put us at an advantage position.”