After the previous season full of heartbreak and frustration, the St. Albert Merchants have started the 2010 campaign on a high note in front of their home crowd.
Coming off a sharp edged 4-2 loss in Spruce Grove two nights prior, the Merchants managed to light up the score sheet for a total of six goals Sunday at Akinsdale Arena, a statistic that wasn’t as easy to come by in the previous season.
“It was an outstanding and solid effort performance right from the net out,” said head coach, Terry Moser. “I thought the players stuck to the system and played focused, disciplined hockey.”
A major factor towards the 6-0 blanking of Flyers was the Merchants’ ability to hold the visitors to a mere 10 shots, compared to the 44 shots Stony Plain’s goalie faced.
The amount of effort put in by the defence was the main reason why Merchants’ goaltender, Curtis Ronaldson was able to achieve the exclusive shutout so early in the season, according to the junior B veteran.
“The boys made it pretty easy all game. I faced 10 shots, and just stopped what I could. They just made it easy by not allowing many scoring chances,” said Ronaldson.
While the Merchants’ goaltender may not have faced an alarming total of shots throughout the game, Moser was impressed by the attention and mentality Ronaldson put into the game to achieve the shutout.
“When you’re only getting 10 shots, it’s extremely difficult to stay focused from that many shots because the muscles start to tighten up a bit and it becomes more a mental game than anything,” said Moser.
One of the major reasons the defence could relax was due to the relentless effort by veteran winger Jake Behiels on offence. In only his second game of the season, Behiels has managed fill up the net with rubber, scoring three times in Sunday’s home opener.
Behiels attributes most of the goals in the game to the chemistry between him and his linemates.
“It was really good. I like playing with Nico [Nicolas Addessi] and [Chris] Clarke is a really good player,” said Behiels.
Now with the first victory of the season off the Merchants’ back, Behiels is looking ahead to the rest of the schedule.
“We have a better team this year, so the first step is to start winning more games and then see if we can make playoffs,” he said.
With the first two games of the season concluded and the Merchants posting a 1-1 record, Moser believes his team will have to focus on the fundamentals to reach their final goal.
“Taking care of our end and finishing off the plays in the opposition’s end,” said Moser. “Other than that, working on the basics.”
The Merchants will take the ice Friday against the defending league champion Beverly Warriors at 8 p.m. at Akinsdale.
