Vermilion Stadium was the backdrop Saturday night as the Lloydminster Bandits won the organization’s first Northeastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League championship since 2010.
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Although the Bandits swept the championship series 4-0, it was a dramatic finish just the same. Near midnight, veteran defenceman Kade Dennett’s triple-overtime goal gave Lloyd its title-clinching 2-1 victory over the Vermilion Tigers.
Of course, the season isn’t finished for either team.
Both the Bandits and Tigers went into the league final knowing that they had already qualified for the Hockey Alberta junior B provincials, which Lloydminster hosts next week (April 1-5) at the Hub.
The Bandits opened and closed the league championship series with victories in Vermilion, including a 3-1 decision in Game 1 on the strength of two goals from Dennett.
In the two Hub games, Lloydminster won 2-1 in overtime Friday, after coming back from a 4-0 deficit to prevail 7-6 last Wednesday.
Either way, this year’s result was going to bring a fresh perspective to the league’s championship history.
The Wainwright Bisons (2016 through 2025) and the Cold Lake Ice (2011 through 2015) were the only Northeastern Alberta junior B league champions during that 15-year period.
Lloydminster won back-to-back league championships in 2009 and 2010. Vermilion’s last league title was in 2008.
The early finish to this year’s final means that the Bandits and Tigers each have 11 days between games before the puck drops for provincials on April Fools’ Day.
It’s been that kind of a spring for the pennant-winning Bandits, who couldn’t open the championship series in their new Hub home two weeks ago because a powwow otherwise occupied the rink.
Not to mention that Lloyd’s only other playoff action was a 4-1 semifinal series victory over the Killam Wheat Kings, who finished 32 points behind Lloyd in the regular-season standings.
NO HEAD-TO-HEAD MATCHUP
The oddities continue right into the six-team provincial championship. The likeliest hottest ticket and most-anticipated matchup — Lloydminster versus Vermilion — won’t happen in the preliminary round.
In a draw that organizers say came from Hockey Alberta, the Tigers are the only team that the Bandits won’t see in their initial four games.
The only way that the local rivals might face each other in the tournament would be in one of the two medal games on Easter Sunday.
PROVINCIAL PARTICIPANTS
Joining the Bandits and Tigers in the provincial championship are the La Crete Lumber Barons, Medicine Hat Cubs, Calgary Northstars (Black) and the Capital Junior Hockey League champion.
The Sherwood Park Knights and Morinville Jets were tied 2-2 in the CJHL’s best-of-seven final, going into Game 5 this Wednesday night (March 25) at Sherwood Park.
The Northeastern Alberta league championship series lasted one week:
Game 4
BANDITS 2, TIGERS 1 (overtime)
On Saturday, Dennett’s unassisted goal 4:34 into the third overtime period ended four-plus hours of hockey. It was after 11:30 p.m. when Dennett’s heroics completed the game — and the series.
The standouts in goal were the Bandits’ Shae Stewart, with 51 saves, and the Tigers’ Ryan Stowe, with 36 stops.
Vermilion’s Cale Johnston forced overtime when he scored with six minutes left in the third period.
Adryan Bugiera, with a power-play goal, had given Lloydminster a 1-0 lead with three minutes remaining in the first period.
Just five minor penalties were called in the final game, two of them coincidental infractions in the second overtime period.
Game 3
BANDITS 2, TIGERS 1 (overtime)
On Friday, rookie centre Cash Parkin needed just 32 seconds of overtime to score Lloyd’s winning goal.
Parkin and his linemate Jake Redden each assisted on the other’s goal. Redden forced overtime when he scored with 3:22 left in the third period.
Cade Meiklejohn, the league’s top goal-scorer in the regular season, tallied for Vermilion in the first period.
The opposing goalies, Stewart and Stowe, each stopped 30 shots.
Game 2
BANDITS 7, TIGERS 6
Last Wednesday (March 18), the night belonged to Bandits’ veteran Jayden Plamondon, who scored four goals as Lloyd stormed back from 4-0 and 5-1 deficits.
In the third period, Plamondon potted the tying goal with 15:13 left and the winner with 8:44 remaining. He has six goals and 13 points after nine playoff games.
Bronson Parker added a goal and two assists, while Cayden Wildeman had one of each. The other Lloyd goal came from Redden, who evened the score at 5-5 with three minutes left in the second period. Colton Parker and Corvan Stewart each picked up two assists.
Rogan Macnab netted a goal and two assists for Vermilion. He set up the Ryder Haakenson goal that put the Tigers up 6-5 just 2:28 into the third period. Haakenson had two points on the night.
The Tigers’ other goals came from Dannon Pavka, Jaxson Toutant, Dalin Hannah and Rhett Romanchuk.
Both teams replaced their goaltender during the 13-goal contest. Lloyd starter Stewart and backup Ryan Stepanick faced a combined 35 shots, as did the Vermilion duo of Stowe and starter Aiden Fox.
Game 1
BANDITS 3, TIGERS 1
In the March 14 series-opener, Dennett’s two-goal performance included an empty-netter with 1:15 remaining.
Corvan Stewart connected for the eventual winning goal at 2:50 of the third period.
Pavka gave Vermilion a 1-0 lead early in the second period, which ended with the teams tied 1-1.
Turtleford’s Shae Stewart made 29 saves for Lloydminster, while Marwayne’s Fox stopped 21 shots for Vermilion.
FISCHER ON BOARD
For the final two games of the series, Vermilion dressed 15-year-old forward Tripp Fischer, another affiliated player from the U18 AAA Lloydminster Lancers. He joined fellow Lancers’ teammates Romanchuk and Kael Scott in the Tigers’ lineup. Hannah, also of the Tigers, spent the first part of this season with the Lancers.
Fischer and Scott are prospects of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds and Calgary Hitmen, respectively. Romanchuk, who captained the Lancers in his final year of U18 AAA hockey, has signed with the junior A Kindersley Klippers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
SEASON SERIES
Including an overtime loss, Vermilion had a 3-2-1 record against Lloydminster during the regular season.
Overall, the Bandits (30-6) finished one point ahead of the Tigers (28-5-3) and five in front of third-place Wainwright (25-6-5).
In the semifinals, the Tigers eliminated Wainwright in five games, the same number of contests that it took for Lloyd to finish off Killam.
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