By Terry Martin
Game 3 took place tonight down at the Drayton Valley Omniplex where the Thunder have won 21 straight dating back to November of the regular season. The Saints looked to take the commanding 3-0 series lead after the overtime win on Saturday and break the Thunders home winning streak in this game.
The Saints would bury the puck just 30 seconds into the game as Caiden Gault would pick up the rebound below the circle and make no mistake to put the team up 1-0. The rest of the period would be quite tame compared to the first two games as there was only one penalty called through 20 minutes. The Saints would keep up the high shooting offence as they would again outshoot the Thunder 14-6 after the opening period of play.
Kadyn Chabot would be the one to open the scoring for the Thunder just 1 minute into the period as he would fire the puck from the dot to tie the game 1-1. The Saints would spend the rest of the period on defense, only firing 1 shot in the first ten minutes of the period. Cade Mason would eventually be the one to regain the lead for the Saints, firing the puck from the blueline with just 4 minutes remaining in the frame. Spruce Grove would hold onto the 2-1 lead heading into the final period while also just leading 18-15 in shots.
The Saints and Thunder would go back and forth throughout the period, delivering some big hits and finding some open ice for high quality chances. The Saints would even find themselves on a 4-minute power play to start the period, but would not get the puck in the back of the net. Neither team would be able to solve the goalies for the whole period and the Saints would hold on to win the game 2-1, giving themselves a 3-0 series lead. Final shots in the game favoured the Saints 32-20 after 60 minutes of play.
Spruce Grove snaps Drayton Valley’s home winning streak and the Saints look forward to tomorrow’s game where they have the possibility to sweep their second opponent in a row and punch their ticket to the AJHL final.