The Lloydminster Bobcats snapped a two-game losing streak Sunday afternoon, and they did it the hard way.
En route to defeating the visiting Canmore Eagles 3-2 in Alberta Junior Hockey League action at the Cenovus Energy Hub, the Bobcats fought back from an early 2-0 deficit.
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Lloydminster also weathered penalty trouble in the final three minutes. Back-to-back penalties left the Bobcats two men short for 1:34, and the Eagles added to their manpower advantage when they put goaltender Alexander Scheiwiller on the bench in favour of an extra skater.
Bobcats netminder Matthew Kondro stood tall down the stretch, making a string of game-saving saves. Overall, he stopped 30 shots to post his fifth win in seven games this season.
Scheiwiller also had a strong game, blocking 38 shots in the Canmore net.
Alessio Nardelli, with his first of the season, scored the winning goal on a power play just 48 seconds into the second period. Nardelli cashed in after fellow overage forward Kade Fendelet rounded the Eagles’ net and threw the puck out front.
In the latter half of the first period, the Bobcats had evened the score at 2-2 on goals 3:37 apart from Jadon Iyogun and Morgan Hackman.
Iyogun, with his fifth tally of the year, took a sharp pass from Gus El-Tahhan and ripped the puck past Scheiwiller.
Hackman netted his second AJHL goal, converting Luke Dooley’s feed to the front of the net. It was the first AJHL career point for Dooley, the energetic forward from Nova Scotia. The play originated on a shot from defenceman Brady Gamble. He and fellow hometown blueliner Jaxan Hopko each picked up an assist Sunday, before the Bobcats joined their fans in a post-game skate.
Tavynn Hamilton, on the power play, and John Szabo, with his fourth this season, scored the Canmore goals.
It was the third road loss in as many days for the Eagles, who fell 4-2 to the Bonnyville Pontiacs on Saturday and 6-3 to the Camrose Kodiaks on Friday.
Lloydminster improved its record to 7-5, while Canmore dropped to 6-6.
The Bobcats have won five of their past seven games. They lost 4-2 to the Devon Xtreme at home Saturday night in front a season-high Hub crowd of 1,904 fans, after falling 2-0 at Camrose last Wednesday (Oct. 15) afternoon.
The Kodiaks visit Lloydminster this Wednesday (Oct. 22) for a noon game that doubles as Hockey Hooky Day for local schoolchildren.
DEVON 4 LLOYDMINSTER 2
Saturday’s game at the Hub was the third meeting in 11 days between the Bobcats and Xtreme, who posted their first win in the October series of sorts.
Devon’s rookie goaltender, Tyler Swanson, made 41 saves to register his first AJHL victory. His heroics included a penalty-shot stop against Bobcats sniper Matthew Hikida midway through the game.
The 18-year-old Swanson’s only other game this season was a 3-2 shootout loss against the Calgary Canucks.
In Lloydminster, the Bobcats outshot the Xtreme 43-21, including an 18-5 margin in the third period.
Lucas Knorr scored two goals, including an empty-netter, to pace Devon (3-4-1). Knorr and Stefan Serediak each netted power-play goals for the Xtreme, who took 2-1 and 3-2 leads in the second period.
Maddox Mason, with his first goal in the AJHL, also tallied for Devon against Lloydminster newcomer Ben Polhill, who beat the Xtreme a week earlier in his Bobcats’ debut.
Kael Screpnek, with a fine individual effort for his first goal of the season, and Raphael Messier, on a power play, scored the Lloyd goals in Saturday’s loss.
The game featured a spirited second-period fight between Bobcats’ rookie Gamble, 18, and Xtreme captain Xander Schulte, 20.
Devon’s game at Bonnyville was suspended late in the first period Friday, because of a water break that caused flooding on the ice. At the time, the Xtreme led 2-1.
CAMROSE 2 LLOYDMINSTER 0
Tucker Tullikopf scored the winning goal on a first-period power play. Miles Copeland added a second-period tally for the Kodiaks (6-5).
Spencer Michnik stopped 30 shots to post his first shutout this season.
Kondro faced 19 shots for Lloydminster.
Camrose comes to Lloyd this Wednesday for another midweek game, after a 5-3 loss at home Sunday against the Drayton Valley Thunder (4-5-1). Kaden Clegg stopped 46 shots for the Thunder.
BONNYVILLE 4 CANMORE 2
R.J. Lalonde Arena was back in operation Saturday as the hometown Pontiacs improved their record to 4-6.
Grayson Niehaus tallied twice for Bonnyville. Ben Costantino, a former Bobcats’ defenceman, added a goal and an assist, and local boy Rylan Emigh potted his second goal in his rookie season.
Hudson Landmark and Aidan Tkachuk scored the Canmore goals, both on assists from Cohen Daoust.
Both goaltenders, the Pontiacs’ Nathan Salisbury and the Eagles’ Hudson Sedo, each faced 23 shots.
OIL BARONS SWEEP STORM
Highlighting weekend action in the AJHL, the Fort McMurray Oil Barons defeated the visiting Grande Prairie Storm three times in as many days.
Fort Mac — which won 3-2, 5-4 and 4-2 — improved its record to 6-3-2 and pulled even with Lloyd in the North Division standings.
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