Saints Beat Eagles 4-1 for Back to Back Wins
By: Adam Kulak
The Saints welcome the Canmore Eagles to town and take care of business with a 4-1 victory here at the Grant Fuhr Arena. Matt Davis only had to make 15 saves and Gamache, Assayag, Schaefer and Fyten would all find the back of the net as the Saints start January with two straight victories.
First Period
The opening 20 minutes of this game saw the Saints get a number of good opportunities on net. They would open the scoring on a powerplay 8 minutes into the game as Grahame Gamache would bury a backdoor feed to make it 1-0. They had another great chance to take a 2-0 lead on a 5 on 3 powerplay but couldn?t get a lot going on their second man advantage.
Canmore would strike on the powerplay late in the period on an unfortunate play. Connor Lyons would turn and throw the puck out front from behind the net and it would redirect off someone in front and end up in the back of the net. Bad luck for the Saints as Canmore ties the game up late in the period.
The Saints outshot the Eagles 11-5 in the period, but the game would stay tied heading into the middle frame.
Second Period
It was all Saints in period #2 as they had the puck for most of the period and created chance after chance. They outshot the Eagles 20-6 in the second period and spent most of the time in the offensive zone. They didn?t score in the first half of the period, but they would build up a lead in the later half.
Evan Arnold would get his first point in the AJHL, as he finds Jonathan Assayag out front and he beats Kaden Kilpatrick from the high slot. 4 minutes later they would extend to a two-goal lead before the end of the second. There were some nice assists in this game, but Matt Davis? assist might take the crown tonight. He would send an Erik Karlsson-like saucer pass all the way up to Reid Schaefer who beats Kilpatrick five hole for the 3-1 lead.
That would conclude the period as the Saints really took the game over in the middle frame and hold a 3-1 lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
Third Period
The Saints would waste no time getting on the scoreboard again to start the period. Just under a minute in, Ryan Peckford would win a race to the puck and as he drove to the net, he would drop it back for Seth Fyten as he one times it past Kaden Kilpatrick to give the Saints a three goal cushion in the third period. That would be all they need in terms of scoring, after a chippy and heated contest, the Saints would come away with the 4-1 victory and they now have wins in back to back games.
The final shots were 45-16 as it was a very strong performance from the Saints in this game. They had 4 different goal scorers and 8 different guys who chipped in with points. They were really giving Canmore problems in zone and off the rush, they could have had more goals as they created many scoring chances. Ryan Peckford was flying tonight as he single-handedly created 7 or 8 scoring chances alone.
The Saints will look to make it 3 in a row on Tuesday as they host the Drayton Valley Thunder, puck drop is 7:00 PM here at the Grant Fuhr Arena.