The U18 AAA Lloydminster Lancers gained early leads in both of their home games last weekend, but they couldn’t finish the job against a couple of Edmonton-area teams.
Read more: Lancers secure first win at home
The Lancers gave up four leads in Sunday night’s game alone as they fell 6-4 to the Leduc Oil Kings in Alberta Elite Hockey League play at the Cenovus Energy Hub.
The day before, Lloyd netted the opening goal just one minute into the game, but the Edmonton Junior Oilers Blue capitalized on power plays in the second and third periods and went on to win 4-2.
For the Lancers, those frustrating results leave them with a 2-8-2 record, which doesn’t entirely reflect the positive signs they have shown early in this rebuilding season.
Just last weekend, the Lancers battled all the way against two of their North Division counterparts in Oilers Blue (8-3) and the Oil Kings (4-4-3).
Sunday’s game marked the second time this season that Leduc has defeated Lloydminster, which gave up 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 leads before allowing three straight goals, including Ordell Saddleback’s empty-netter with two minutes left.
Tyson Chrunik and former Lloydminster Athletics forward Jacob Fleming scored power-play goals for Leduc. Fleming has nine goals and 16 points after 11 games.
T.J. Terpsma, Kade Harstad and Nixon Ganske, with the eventual winner late in the second period, also tallied for the Oil Kings. Saddleback’s three-point game included two assists.
Harstad made the score 4-4 less than a minute after Carson Mazzei had given Lloyd its final lead. Mazzei, with his first U18 AAA goal, converted a slick pass from speedy Connor Nickle, who had outraced a defender to the puck deep in the Leduc zone.
Nickle and Kael Scott each netted their fourth goals of the season as both players recorded two points apiece in Sunday’s game. Graydon Kvill scored the other Lloydminster goal and Ty Domshy contributed two assists.
Lancers goaltender Asher Ammann made 28 saves, two more than the Oil Kings’ Raydyn Baumle.
Ammann was back in town Sunday after spending Saturday night on the junior A Lloydminster Bobcats’ bench as a backup goalie in their 4-2 victory over the host Devon Xtreme.
Stran Edge tended the Lancers’ goal for their date with Oilers Blue on Saturday, the same day Leduc lost 5-3 to the Sherwood Park Kings (7-5-1).
Edge stopped 33 of 37 Edmonton shots, while Lloyd posted 21 shots against Ethan Berard.
In both weekend games at the Hub, Lancers rookie winger Scott opened the scoring, and linemate Josh Frazer figured in both of those offensive plays. During a 2-on-1 early in Sunday’s game, Lancers leading scorer Brody Sunderland made a smooth pass to Scott, who fired a one-timer past Leduc’s Baumle.
Scott, a prospect of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, has 11 points after 12 games at the U18 AAA level.
Lloyd’s other goal Saturday came from rookie defenceman Locklin Mitchell, with his first as a Lancer. Mitchell’s unassisted goal made it a 2-2 game four minutes into the third period, but Oilers Blue restored their lead 1:26 later on a power-play marker from Brant Caswell.
During a first-period power play, Caswell set up fellow defenceman Nathan Guenther’s one-timer goal, which evened the score 1-1. Two minutes later, captain Eric Ripka ripped his fifth goal of the season into the Lloyd net as Edmonton grabbed its first lead.
The other Oilers Blue goal came from Carter Muench, with his seventh tally and 17th point in 11 games this season.
Muench had a three-point game Saturday, while Caswell and Ripka each contributed two points.
Edmonton recently regained the services of 17-year-old forward Jake MacDonald, who began this season in the AJHL with the Olds Grizzlys. He scored four goals and eight points in his first four games back in the provincial U18 AAA league, but he was held off the scoresheet in Lloyd.
Caswell rejoined Oilers Blue in late October after junior stints with the AJHL’s Whitecourt Wolverines and the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades.
After going 1-3 during their four-game homestand, the Lancers are on the road for their next five AEHL games, beginning next Saturday (Nov. 22) against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (8-4-1) and Sunday (Nov. 23) versus the St. Albert Raiders (7-2-3).
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