When the final numbers were crunched Sunday night at the Hub, it was a young accountant who settled the score in the latest instalment of playoff-like action in the Northeastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League.
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Kade Dennett, a smooth-skating defenceman, scored the winning goal with 12 minutes left in the third period to give the Lloydminster Bandits a hard-fought 4-3 victory over the pesky Vermilion Tigers, narrowing the gap between those teams atop the ever-tight standings.
It was the third game in as many days for the Tigers, who also lost 6-1 to the third-place Wainwright Bisons on Saturday night. Vermilion (23-5-3) still leads the way with 49 points, one more than Lloyd (24-6) and five ahead of Wainwright (20-4-4), the playoff champion last year.
Sunday evening’s game attracted a big crowd to the Hub, where the Bandits will host Hockey Alberta’s provincial junior B championship from April 1 to 5. And the teams didn’t disappoint as they engaged in a feisty Sunday supper of sorts.
“It was a physical game,” said Dennett, a double-award winner last season as the league’s top defenceman and most valuable player. “Those games are the fun ones. High intensity. They’re great to be a part of.”
Although the decisive goal was announced as being scored by Bronson Parker, it was indeed Dennett who provided the heroics.
“The puck got dropped out in the slot, then I picked it up and shot it around the D-man, didn’t really see where it was going, and it went in,” said Dennett, an assistant captain with the Bandits.
“I was hoping it would go in. I’ve had a few (chances) from there today and that one kind of squeezed by (goaltender Ryan Stowe’s) glove and went in.”
Since finishing his post-secondary studies, Dennett has been doing accounting work with his family’s company. He’s also been immersed in some intense junior B battles between the rival Bandits, Tigers and Bisons.
“I played with a bunch of them through my whole career of hockey, so they’re fun to battle against,” Dennett said about a Vermilion team that features multiple players from Lloydminster. “They don’t quit, so it’s always fun games.”
Vermilion’s Stowe and Lloyd goalie Shae Stewart each made a string of clutch saves, even with big bodies in front of their respective nets and plenty of physical play from start to finish.
“Yeah, it definitely felt like playoffs out there,” said Stewart, who held the fort down the stretch as the Tigers pressed for the tying goal one more time in a game where they never led but kept coming back.
“Verm is a good team. They throw lots of pucks at the net, so you’ve got to be sharp.
“We’ve lost a couple (of games) to them this year. They’re always right there, knocking at the door.”
Stewart runs his family’s farm in Turtleford, so it’s appropriate that he referred to the new Hub as a barn, using some traditional hockey parlance.
“It’s really nice to get some fans in the barn,” said the five-foot-10, 200-pound veteran goaltender. “It helps with the energy a lot.
“I think it definitely gives us some confidence, going into playoffs, a big game like that.”
While the Bandits were otherwise idle on the weekend schedule, the Tigers didn’t play like it was their third game in three days. They had a strong start and hung around all night.
Vermilion captain Rohan Quist said the Tigers pulled up their socks after a disappointing game the previous day against Wainwright.
“It’s not a bad thing, getting ready for playoffs, having three games in a week,” said Quist, in his fifth and final year of junior B hockey, all with Vermilion. “But it just didn’t go our way.
“Saturday didn’t go our way, at all. It wasn’t the greatest (in the five-goal loss to the Bisons).
“Tonight (against the Bandits), we still had errors — turnovers we shouldn’t have had and giving shots from the point we can probably block. But we were at least making tape-to-tape passes and forechecking. Whereas in the game before, we were flat.”
The Tigers were missing one of their top scorers on Sunday in 36-point man Jaxson Toutant, who was away for a family trip.
But both teams still had an abundance of offensive weapons in their respective lineups.
Adryan Bugiera and Jayden Plamondon scored power-play goals for Lloyd, and teammate Aidan Martens added an even-strength marker.
Vermilion’s goals came from Ean Cooke, on the power play, Dannon Pavka and Kaden Davidson, who made it 3-3 early in the third period.
ROMANCHUK A GOOD FIT
Vermilion called up U18 AAA Lloydminster Lancers captain Rhett Romanchuk, and the towering defenceman didn’t look out of place at the junior B level. The Tigers used the junior A Lloydminster Bobcats’ prospect in key situations, even though he had just finished playing a Lancers game three hours earlier.
Quist hopes this is the year that Vermilion can go all the way and win a league championship.
“Out of the five years (I’ve been here), I think this is the most talented team we’ve had,” he said. “We’ve been building every year and getting better. This is our year, we hope.
“The boys in there want it. They give it all they can. There are guys that don’t get to play in the third (period), and they’re up and laughing and cheering us on. We’ve got a good group.”
The Tigers began their busy weekend Friday with a 6-2 victory over the visiting St. Paul Canadiens (13-17).
Wainwright completed its double-win weekend Sunday, as the Bisons scored a 5-1 win over the Cold Lake Ice (13-16-1).
Lloydminster has a pair of games this weekend. The Bandits visit Cold Lake on Friday night and welcome the Vegreville Rangers (1-30) to the Hub on Saturday evening.
Vermilion hosts the Killam Wheat Kings (11-17-2) on Friday night.
Wainwright was scheduled to host Vegreville this Wednesday night in Hardisty. The Bisons are back home in Wainwright for a Friday evening game against St. Paul.
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