There is no place like home for the St. Albert Sabres.
Wednesday’s 6-3 win over the Canadian Athletic Club at Akinsdale Arena improved the team’s record in St. Albert to 7-1-1, compared to 5-4-2 on the road in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
“The boys have been playing really well in Akinsdale,” said assistant coach Rob Parrotta. “It’s nice playing in front of friends and family in Akinsdale but we like to pride ourselves in playing everywhere too.”
The home-ice decision pulled the Sabes (12-5-3) to within four points of the division-leading SSAC Southgate Lions (14-3-3). Parrotta is confident the team would be in first place if not for some sketchy play at the beginning of the season.
“We got off to a slow start and that affected us but we bounced back and had a really good run in November and December and the Abbotsford tournament as well,” he said. “We definitely would like to be in first place but we just have to keep winning to do that.”
Although the Sabres managed to pull off an important win Wednesday, the first part of the game never met the coaching staff's expectations after finishing the first period facing a 2-0 deficit to the Canadians (8-11-2).
“We started really slow. We basically didn’t play our game. We weren’t playing physical and taking pucks in the tough areas and the score showed it,” said Parrotta.
The Sabres rebounded in the second on goals by Andre Kary and Zack Gonek. In the third they broke it open as Paul Lovsin, Kary, Brett Van Os and Tyler Mrkonjic connected before the nine-minute mark. Joshua Perrott finished the game with two assists.
“During a game if we score four or five goals, we’ll probably have that many goal scorers. It’s really nice to have a balanced attack,” said Parrotta.
The Sabres currently boast the second-best goals against in the entire 22-team circuit with 47, two more than the Lions. Netminders Patrick Dea (5-2-1) and Patrick Gora (7-3-2) are ranked fourth and fifth in the league in goals-against average with totals of 2.30 and 2.39 respectively.
Gora stopped 28 shots Wednesday for the win.
“Our defensive zone coverage has been pretty good. We have six strong defencemen and our forechecking commitment is pretty good too. Having two goaltenders that are playing really well also helps,” said Parrotta.
The Sabres are in action today when they host the Grande Prairie Storm (3-18) at noon. The last game before the Christmas break is Tuesday against the Maple Leafs (6-12-4) at 7:45 p.m. at Coronation Arena.
