The playoff championship slipped away from the St. Albert Blues last weekend in Fort St. John.
After leaving St. Albert with a 2-1 series lead in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League best-of-five final, the Blues returned home after losses of 8-6 and 7-5 to the NE BC/Yukon Trackers.
While the home crowd might have partially played a role in games four and five, Blues’ head coach Donovan Sugiyama said it gave his team both negatives and positives.
“The atmosphere was good and it worked both ways. It was good for our boys to play in front of a big style junior crowd,” said Sugiyama. “It definitely gave them life however, because they were pretty short benched for much of the series. I think the crowd definitely gave them energy at key points in the series.”
The Blues held the upper hand after a thrilling five-period 4-3 overtime win in game three at Performance Arena but Sugiyama believes it disappeared throughout the week like he thought it would.
“We talked about momentum dissipating throughout the week and I guess it kind of did. That being said, anytime you head into a visiting rink it’s hard to carry momentum. They had 400 to 500 fans out there that were making some noise and it definitely gave some momentum to them,” he said.
A major change between the home and away games was the sudden increase in offensive production and the drop in defensive protection. Games one through three averaged six goals per game compared to the high scoring affairs in Fort St. John.
“The games just seemed more open for one reason or another in relation to both teams. For one reason or another the play opened up a bit and both offences were firing on top cylinders,” said Sugiyama.
In game four the Trackers held period leads of 3-2 and 6-4 and outshot the Blues 44-42. Brent McGugan tallied twice and added two assists. Casey Reid, Mitch McNamara, Jordan MacPhee and Erin Belfour also scored.
The Blues connected four times on the power play and the Trackers twice. Max Cathcart and Cole Saunders shared net time.
In the deciding game, the Trackers led 2-1 after the first and 4-3 entering the third. The shot count was listed 55-50 for the home team. Both teams capitalized twice on the power play. MacPhee potted two goals and singles were scored by McGugan, Belfour and Barrett Belland. In net was Saunders.
The Blues were considered the favourite in the series due to their stronger regular season record (26-5-1 in central red division) and high-powered offence with a league best 200 goals.
As for the Trackers (19-8-5 in north black division), they were one of the best defensive teams with 97 goals against.
“Like any loss it was tough, especially for the 17-year-olds who played their last minor hockey game,” said Sugiyama. “All I could do was remind them about the success they did have this season. They should be proud of the work we have done to this point and to not hang their heads.”
The Blues finished the regular season with the most points in the league and qualified for provincials, only to lose to the Red Deer Elks in the final 5-4 at Taber.
“It would have been nice to cap the year off with either a league or provincial championship but even though we didn’t come through in the end, you can’t take away from the success our team had this year,” said Sugiyama.
