A couple of weeks before his 18th birthday, Kelton Doolaege scored a season-saving goal Sunday evening as the U18 AAA Lloydminster Lancers kept their playoff hopes alive in the Alberta Elite Hockey League.
Read more: Lloydminster U18 AAA Lancers step up into playoff picture
Doolaege, a Castor native in his first and final year with Lloyd’s U18 program, netted the winning goal with 4:33 left in regulation time and the visiting Lancers defeated the Sherwood Park Kings 3-2.
The Super Bowl Sunday tally was goal No. 18 for Doolaege on the season, and his 21st point in his past 20 games.
More importantly, it gave the Lancers their much-needed two points as they gained three of a possible four points from a two-game weekend that included a 3-2 overtime loss to the Edmonton Junior Oilers Orange on Saturday night in Lloydminster.
“It felt great (to win Sunday’s game), considering we lost the day before that,” said Doolaege, a six-foot-three, 185-pound centre.
“It would have been really nice to win that (Saturday) game. It would have helped us out a lot, but it felt great to at least give us a fighting chance.”
The Lancers (12-16-6) have kept the fight going in their playoff push. After last weekend’s action, they held the sixth and final post-season berth in the North Division, one point ahead of Oilers Orange (13-17-3) and two points back of the fifth-place Leduc Oil Kings (13-16-6). As of Tuesday, Lloyd had played one more game than Oilers Orange and one less than Leduc.
For the second time in as many weeks, Lloydminster topped the North’s fourth-place Sherwood Park (17-17-2) as the Lancers’ fathers made the bus trip with the team Sunday.
While the Lancers lead 3-2 in the season series with the Kings, Doolaege has been particularly fortuitous versus Sherwood Park. Including a two-goal performance in a mid-December victory that ignited his two-month scoring spree, he’s had four goals and six points against the Kings overall.
READING THE OPPOSITION
On the winning goal Sunday, Doolaege effectively used Sherwood Park defenceman Karson Kereliuk as a decoy and fired the puck past goaltender Hayden Rinas.
“A little bit, yeah,” replayed Doolaege, whose goal came shortly after a close scoring chance for teammate Connor Nickle. “It was one-on-one and I kind of stepped to the side and just ripped it high.
“That goalie, he liked to go down really quickly, so there was lots of room high to shoot. I knew that, for sure.”
The Lancers knew they were back in business after grinding out Sunday’s victory, in which they came back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in the second period on goals from rookie Brody Sunderland and veteran Logan Flewell. Ty Domshy assisted on both of those Lloyd tallies and 15-year-old sniper Kael Scott picked up his team-leading 40th point.
Stran Edge, the Lancers’ rookie goalie from Marwayne, made 28 saves to post his eighth win this season. Kings’ veteran Rinas recorded 21 stops.
Sherwood Park’s scorers were Kaiden Beniuk and Zak Stabbler, whose team-leading 21st goal and 38th point came on the power play.
Doolaege wasn’t sure where his winning goal might rank on his all-time list, but he agreed it was a meaningful one because of its consequences.
“Maybe not the biggest, but it’s up there, for sure,” he said, comparing it to a winning marker that sent his U15 team to provincials.
With just two weekends — four games — left in their regular season, the Lancers are trying to finish the job in a productive second half of the season and qualify for the playoffs. One of the league’s hottest teams down the stretch, they’ve gone 6-2-2 in their past 10 games.
“It gave us hope,” Doolaege said about Sunday’s verdict. “There was a little bit of doubt after we lost the Saturday prior, but after securing that win, it gave us a fighting chance, at least, in the games coming up.
“I’d say it was a back-and-forth game, with really good chances for both teams, to be honest. But I felt like the (Lloyd) team came together and played really well as a whole unit, considering we had guys sick and not at 100 per cent.”
After icing a full lineup Saturday for the first time in weeks, the Lancers lost versatile forward Aiden Harman, who made the trip Sunday but sat out with concussion symptoms.
Saturday’s game ended when Oilers Orange defenceman Paulo Borrelli scored on the only shot of overtime, just 1:10 into the extra session.
Young guns Scott and Josh Frazer, both WHL draft choices last spring, scored the Lloydminster goals. Devon Zahara and Jackson Tetreault had the other Edmonton goals.
The Lancers outshot Oilers Orange 43-38 in a strong game for goalies Asher Ammann of Lloyd and his Edmonton counterpart, Lukas Steinhubl.
In the final five minutes of regulation, the Lancers recorded eight straight shots before Oilers Orange managed two shots in the final minute of the scoreless third period.
The dying minutes of regulation still were filled with drama, including breakaway chances for the opposing No. 13 players — Nickle of Lloydminster and Tetreault of Edmonton.
While the Lancers regrouped in a big way Sunday at Sherwood Park, their schedule doesn’t get any easier this weekend. Lloydminster goes up against two of the league’s top teams. The Lancers host the St. Albert Raiders (19-9-7) at 7:45 p.m. Saturday and visit the North front-running Edmonton Junior Oilers Blue (26-6-3) at 2 p.m. Sunday at Bill Hunter Arena.
JUNIOR HOCKEY PROSPECTS
Doolaege has made fast strides during his only U18 season, after stepping up from the U17 AAA Lancers last summer. He has 27 points after 34 games this season and is on the radar of multiple junior A teams.
He said the SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers have offered to sign him, and the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats have also expressed interest.
“There’s still other junior teams showing some interest, I believe. They just haven’t reached out to me personally, yet, and made more significant moves.”
Kindersley is the same team that has just signed Lancers’ captain and high-scoring defenceman Rhett Romanchuk.
“It gives me confidence, that’s for sure,” Doolaege said about attracting such attention from junior teams.
He might attend multiple spring camps before deciding which route to go in junior hockey.
For now, Doolaege and the rest of the Lancers are focused on a final push for a playoff berth over the next two weekends.
On the last weekend of the regular season, Lloydminster hosts Leduc on Saturday, Feb. 21, and visits Sherwood Park on Sunday, Feb. 22.
Read more: U18 AAA Lancers win, lose on the road
