There was a lot at stake for the Canadiens when the team took on the bottom-ranked Thorhild Titans in a Dec. 10 match-up. The local boys would go into the game having suffered 15 straight losses, and were keen to turn the tide around, but instead, they would take one more loss when the Titans prevailed with a 4-3 victory in overtime.
The Canadiens stood in eight place in the North Eastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League, one rank above the Titans, and Friday night’s game offered a chance to improve the team’s record, but that would not happen.
“We got edged out because we have guys that don’t know how to win yet,” said Canadiens’ head coach Aaron Block in an email to the Journal. “We are susceptible to being caught up in momentum swings. It is our task as coaches to develop mental toughness in each of our players. That is our goal.”
The game started off promisingly for the Canadiens with a goal for the team in the first period by Pierre Sparklingeyes, assisted by Skylar Giroux and Braedin Makokis.
In the second period, the Titans would get two more past the Canadiens’ goalie, and would follow that up with another goal a little more than five minutes into the third period to take the score to 3-1.
But the Canadiens were undaunted, and less than thirty seconds after the Titans scored in the third, the team’s Tyler Gamble would strike back with an unassisted goal to make it 3 - 2. A power play then gave the chance for the Canadiens to tie it up, and the team capitalized on the opportunity, with a goal from Lyndon Arcand, assisted by Sparklingeyes. A minute later, the Canadiens scored again, but the net was dislodged during the shuffle and the goal was disallowed, which elicited boos from the hometown crowd. Block said he believed the puck was in the net before it came off its moorings.
With a little more than one minute in the game, the Titans attempted to break the tie, using the momentum from a power play. The Canadiens managed to kill the penalty to take the game into overtime.
The Canadiens’ goalie Evan Joly managed to stop a Titans’ attack on the net, but continued pressure saw the Titans find the back of the net and win the game by 4 – 3.
Then on Sunday, the Canadiens would head to Wainwright to take on the Bisons, where the team would get shut out and would take a 7 – 0 loss. Block said he felt the team was unable to get on the scoreboard due to a lack of crashing the net to get “greasy goals. We don’t have any natural goal scorers so we have to commit to scoring goals generated off shooting to create juicy rebounds.”
However, Block focused on positives for the year ahead of the team. “We are fortunate because we have let go of the weak-minded players or they have quit. Those that remain are strong-willed and resilient keeping the game in the right context,” he said, adding that coaches are developing the team’s core players who play the game for the love of the game, as well as working on improving individual players’ skills.
The Canadiens will have an opportunity to end the year with a win as the team takes on the Wheat Kings in an away game this Friday night in Killam.
