After a promising start to the year, the fortunes of the St. Albert Merchants have suddenly taking a turn in the opposite direction.
Entering Sunday’s game against the defending junior B provincial champion Beaumont Chiefs, the Merchants were looking to turn their season around but were quickly ambushed by a steady string of trips to the penalty box, which led to a 7-3 defeat at Akinsdale Arena.
The loss was the fifth in a row for the Merchants (2-6), ranked sixth out of seven teams in the west division. The Chiefs (6-2 ) are tied for first in the east division.
The inability to field a team with five men was a major factor behind the early 3-0 deficit in the first, according forward Tyler Pennington.
“It’s hard to win a game when you’re down two, two minutes in. After a while you’re penalty killing the whole game and you lose the flow that comes with playing with your linemates,” said Pennington.
At the start of the second the Chiefs were quick to capitalize with a pair of power play goals. However, late in the period the Merchants were able to gain some momentum on goals by Chris Clarke and the team’s leading scorer, Jake Behiels.
The quick burst of energy was a factor assistant coach Wes Werhun was counting on from previous game experiences.
“Our goal was to outplay them in the second. Over the year it’s been our strongest period in our games so far,” said Werhun. “We are trying to take small positives right now, because when you’re in a slump like we are there is a history of negatives growing.”
Pennington would manage to add another tally to the scoreboard in the second, but the constant array of penalties (55 in total for the Merchants) became a burden too heavy to overcome.
“Every player that’s taking penalties is responsible for his penalties, whether he agrees or not. We can argue the calls all night but it’s not going to get us anywhere. We have to respect the calls that are made and fight through them,” said Werhun.
A major area to work on as the season continues, and a focal point that may play a drastic role in turning the Merchants around, is the confusion on defensive assignments.
“Our biggest problem is our defensive play away from the puck with one on one situations and that means taking up our man and staying with him and not running and giving up scoring chances,” said Werhun.
Another part of the Merchants’ game the coaching staff believes is an area to grow on is a skill that players all contain from minor hockey but may be confused with due to a change of terminology.
“Some of the terminology may be new to the players from the systems they have been playing before,” said Werhun. “They basically need to put their nose down and tail up and work as hard as they can for the 35 to 40 seconds they are on the ice.”
The Merchants started off the weekend with a 6-4 loss to the Hawks (3-3-0-1) in Fort Saskatchewan. It was 3-3 after the first and 6-3 after two periods. Behiels scored twice and Kyle Beddows and Nicolas Addessi added singles. Clark had two assists.
The next game for the Merchants is Friday against the North Edmonton Red Wings (4-2-0-1) at 8 p.m. at Akinsdale. They travel Sunday to play the Wetaskiwin Icemen (5-3) at 2 p.m.
