Crusaders hope home ice can spark comeback

The Sherwood Park Crusaders and Spruce Grove Saints will both be in new surroundings when the Alberta Junior Hockey League playoffs resume Saturday.

The Crusaders are trailing the Fort Mcmurray Oil Barons 2-0 in their North Division best-of-seven playoff series. The Oil Barons won 6-3 on Wednesday and 6-0 on Thursday in Fort Mcmurray.

“If we play five-on-five hockey, we can make a series of it, but when they had 17 power plays to our two power plays, it’s really tough give the team a chance to win,” Crusaders coach and general manager Tim Fragle said Friday.

Fragle said a good start will be key to the Crusaders’ momentum in Game 3 at Sherwood Park Arena.

“We’re excited to be back on home ice and get back in the series,” he said.

Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday, also in Sherwood Park.

Meanwhile, the Saints take their 2-0 series lead into Drayton Valley. The Saints silenced the Thunder 5-0 on Tuesday and 6-2 on Thursday.

“Confidence is always a good thing and we have started off well, but we will just need to carry the momentum into Game 3,” said Saints coach and GM Jason Mckee. “I thought we executed well in the first 10 minutes of Game 2 and then made some mental errors through the midpoint of the game. But we rebounded well in the third period.”

Second-year coach and general manager Brian Curran resigned from the Lloydminster Bobcats a week after the team was swept in a best-of-five opening-round series.

Curran, who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL, won this season’s coach-of-the-year award. He led the Bobcats to a third-place finish in the North Division with 88 points.

The Bobcats website said Curran left to accept an yet-to-be announced coaching position.

Emerance Maschmeyer, the Bobcats’ 17-year-old goaltender from Bruder-heim, has committed to Harvard University. Maschmeyer is the first female goaltender to play in the AJHL since Shannon Szabados played for the Fort Saskatchewan Traders in the 2006-07 season.