Legionnaires eliminated from playoff by Hounds
The Swift Current Home Hardware Legionnaires were unable to solve the Notre Dame Hounds as they were swept out of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs in the opening round.
The Legionnaires fell behind 2-0 with a 5-4 double overtime loss to the Hounds on Tuesday.
Josselin Dufey scored midway through the second overtime period to lift the visiting Hounds to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five quarter-final series.
The Legionnaires had held 2-0, 3-1, and 4-2 leads, but the Hounds fought back every time to force overtime. The Hounds had appeared to end the game in the first overtime period before a goal was disallowed due to goaltender interference after a lengthy discussion between officials.
Thomas Wardle picked up the win for the Hounds with 40 saves despite the best efforts of the Swift Current fans to throw him off his game. Ethan Hein took the overtime loss with 32 saves.
Kersey Reich led the Legionnaires with a goal and an assist, while Lucas Ochitwa, Riley Dekowny, and Mason Strutt also scored. Chase Gallant, Maguire Scheidt, Reed Jacobson, Rhett Evjen, Boston Bird, and Blake Rasmuson all added assists.
The Legionnaires finished one-for-seven on the power play, including a four-minute power play during overtime. The Hounds scored twice on six man-advantages.
Wednesday, the Legionnaires were eliminated from the playoffs in a 4-2 loss to the Hounds in Wilcox.
The Hounds led on first-period goals from Kenzie Mackinnon and Brendan Kerr.
Bird scored the only goal of the second period with a shorthanded marker for the Legionnaires.
The Hounds doubled their lead in the third period with a goal from Trey Funk, but Logan Linklater scored a power play goal 58 seconds later to cut the deficit in half again. Dominick Campione closed the scoring with an empty net goal,
Christian Albertson, Jaxon Martens, Dekowny, and Hendrik de Klerk all picked up assists for the Legionnaires.
Jacob Herman made 27 saves on 30 shots for the Legionnaires. Wardle earned the win with 18 saves.
The Legionnaires had finished fifth in the regular season at 28-14-1-1, only two points behind the Hounds.
“We were really happy with our year,” said head coach Darren Evjen. “We had a lot of changeover this year. We thought with free agents, young players, and the players that returned, we had a good year. We managed to get 28 wins, which was two more than last year. We were closer to the top this year, two points out of fourth, four points out of third. It was a good competitive league this year and we did a good job.”
They also made their second straight playoff appearance, a rarity prior to Evjen’s tenure.
“To make playoffs was always the goal. I thought in the playoffs I really liked the way we played, we just played a team that was similar to us and they were one-goal games all of them. We came out on the wrong end of it. I thought our guys, details, work-ethic, commitment, I think it was there to win the games.”
Evjen and much of the new staff took over the Legionnaires program three seasons ago and the results speak for themselves.
“That’s a credit to our whole organization… Our billets, our trainers, our coaches, billet coordinator, everybody, we have such a stable organization now that we’re starting to be the team that kids want to come to. It’s gotten stable and that’s the key. If you get stable when you lose lots of players there’s still lots of players who want to come here.”
Evjen hopes that the recent success will lead to future results.
“Looking to Spring Camp we have already been contacted by lots of players and we’ve contacted a lot of good players. We should have a competitive Spring Camp and that should give an opportunity to be competitive next year.”