While beating the top teams in the league might be considered difficult, the St. Albert Merchants seem to have a knack for it.
Against the second-place North Edmonton Red Wings (14-8-0-2) Wednesday, the Merchants (13-10) left Clareview Arena with a hard-fought 5-4 victory.
The score was 1-0 Merchants after one period on a goal by Alex Hawirko, but an impressive two-goal and two-assist performance by the Red Wings’ Curtis Smith in the second would change the tide of the game. The Merchants subsequently took a 4-2 deficit into the third.
“We had a good first period and then a tough second when we ran into penalty trouble and got caught missing our assignments,” said head coach Wes Werhun.
The Merchants entered the third with a back-to-business attitude and racked up goals by Sam Crawford, affiliate Matt Bowles and Dustin Robinson’s game winner with 4:31 to play.
The sudden change in play could be contributed to a special locker room speech by Werhun.
“Their goalie [Travis Gibson] was shaky all game and I challenged the guys to play for their own goalie [Justin Pawlenchuk] because he was playing well,” he said. “As a result we came back and scored three unanswered goals to win the game.”
Travis Schuh also connected in period two. Curtis Mostowich and Chris Clark added two assists apiece. Clark leads the Merchants in assists with 21 and is tied with Jake Behiels in the team’s scoring race with 29 points. Behiels has 22 goals in 23 games.
The victory was the eighth in 10 games for the streaking Merchants, tied for third in the west with the Spruce Grove Regals (12-7-0-2).
While the basic make-up of the team hasn’t changed since the start of the season, besides the head coaching position, Werhun believes the players have learned what it takes to find success at the junior level.
“It’s pretty much 60 minutes of knowing what your assignments are,” he said. “I don’t think that there is any team that plays a full 60 minutes as there is breakdowns throughout the game. However it’s important to rebound from your mistakes and capitalize on the other team’s mistakes.”
Even with the recent surge that has pushed the Merchants to within nine points of the first-place Beverly Warriors (16-4-0-3), Werhun is confident his team is focused more on the outcome in the playoffs and not the regular season.
“I don’t think we’re going to contend for first place and that’s never been our goal. Our goal is to be a competitive team throughout the season and just to make some noise in the playoffs when we get the opportunity.”
On Friday night the Merchants played the south division-leading Beaumont Chiefs (17-6-0-1) on the road but the score was unavailable at press time.
They host Spruce Grove on Sunday at 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The last game before the Christmas break is Dec. 19 against the last-place Stony Plain Flyers (1-20-0-2) at 8 p.m. at Akinsdale.
