By: Terry Martin
The Saints come off an incredible win in overtime against the Crusaders last night coming into tonight?s game and they were looking for much more of the same. Both teams? goaltenders made some great saves to start the game off, both turning away breakaway chances early. The Crusaders opened the scoring with McNelly scoring off the cycle. With both teams registering great chances, Palmer made the difference by making incredible saves late in the period. Nick Leyer tied the game with a laser through a crowd before the period ended.
The intensity was turned up a notch, with both teams getting three coincidental roughing calls within the first ten minutes of the second period. There were lots of hits but not a ton of opportunities for the majority of the second period. Spruce Grove ended up scoring late, with a scramble in front, Lucas Ciona made no mistake and found the back of the net during a scramble in front of Frey.
The Saints extended their lead in the third period by scoring within the first 5 minutes of the period from a goal by Graham Gamache. The Saints quickly added to the lead with Lucas Ciona scoring his second of the night to make it 4-1. The Crusaders were able to cut the Saints lead to 2 but could not get any closer.
Final shots in the game were 38-36 for the Saints.
The Saints sweep the Crusaders in the opening weekend of the 2020 AJHL season and look forward to two home games next weekend against the Grand Prairie Storm.