In the race for fifth place, the St. Albert Steel took a step backwards with a crushing 7-1 loss Wednesday against the Spruce Grove Saints at Grant Fuhr Arena.
The sixth-place Steel (15-17-1-3) trailed the Sherwood Park Crusaders (17-13-2-5) by seven points with a game in hand, prior to visiting the fourth-place Bonnyville Pontiacs (21-15-2) Friday. The score was unavailable at press time.
The Saints (31-3-1-3), listed second in the Canadian Junior Hockey League power rankings, outshot the Steel by a whopping 61-26 margin. In the middle frame the shot count was 22-10 as the Saints potted five unanswered goals against Chris Sharkey (5-4-1, 4.22 GAA and .881 save percentage). The scoring spree included a pair of power play markers 13 seconds apart.
Backing up Sharkey was Richard Gagnon in place of Mark Kotylak (10-13-3, 4.10 GAA and .885 save percentage), who left the Steel for undisclosed reasons. Kotylak, 20, was handed the starter’s role prior to training camp. In three seasons with the Steel the former midget AAA Raider was 20-23-4 with one shutout and a 3.93 GAA.
The Saints opened the scoring while shorthanded. The Steel, 5-3-0-2 in their last 10 games, pulled even on Alex Perkins’ unassisted effort with 19 seconds left in the opening period. The goal by Perkins was his fourth in four games and the eighth in 23 games. The 20-year-old left winger has been one of the better Steel players since returning to the line-up from a lower-body injury. A healthy Perkins recorded seven points in seven games in which the Steel went 4-2-0-1.
The Steel ramped up their physical play against the Saints after the first period. The fight card included scraps by David Carr (at the drop of the puck to start period two), Perkins (penalized as the instigator) and captain Ryan Edens (against St. Albert product Nate Fleming). Mike Giese and Rob Zandbeek also racked up misconducts in the third.
The loss marked the sixth game the third-worst defensive team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League has let in seven or more goals.
The Steel skate into the Christmas break with home games Sunday against the last-place Drayton Valley Thunder (7-26-2-2) at 2:30 p.m. and Tuesday against the third-place Fort McMurray Oil Barons (25-11-1-2) at Performance Arena.
The St. Albert Flyers close out the 2009 portion of their schedule in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League at home Sunday against the Camrose Kodiaks. Game time is 5 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
In the north conference, the Flyers (14-6-1) share third place and Camrose (3-14-2) was tied for 10th in the 12-team standings.
After registering impressive road victories against the top two teams – 5-0 over the SSAC Bulldogs (14-2-3) and 3-2 over the PAC Saints (15-4-1) of Spruce Grove last weekend — the Flyers were grounded 5-3 by the Maple Leafs (10-7-3) Wednesday at Akinsdale. Carson Samoridny, Brent McGugan and Justin Svendgaard scored and Jacob Bilodeau (8-5-1, 2.88 GAA) stopped 22 shots.
Bilodeau posted the shutout against the Bulldogs with 30 saves. Mitch McNamara and Samoridny scored two goals apiece and Evan Warmington also connected. Trace Elson picked up two assists.
Bilodeau also turned aside 27 shots against the Saints. Blair Macuch, Liam McNamara and Samoridny provided the offence.
In the league scoring race, Samoridny (23-10-33 in 21 games) ranks sixth overall.
The St. Albert Raiders are in Lethbridge this weekend for a pair of games against the Caesars in the Alberta Bantam Female Hockey League.
The Raiders (5-6-1) are third in the north division and the Caesars (2-6-1) are last in the south.
The last game for the Raiders was an 8-0 loss to the Red Deer Chiefs (10-1-1) Dec. 6 at Kinsmen Arena. The Chiefs peppered Kaelin Klim (3-2-1, 2.82 GAA) with 44 shots while the Raiders registered 16 shots.
Tuesday’s game against the Lloydminster Ice Cats at Clare Drake Arena has been rescheduled for Feb. 20 at Kinex Arena.
