Revenge is sweet and Ty Clelland savoured the taste of shutting out his former team in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
The St. Albert Merchants’ netminder stopped all 25 shots directed his way by the North Edmonton Red Wings in Friday’s 6-0 victory at Akinsdale Arena.
“It was definitely super exciting to show up my old team,” declared Clelland, who spent two seasons with the Red Wings before hooking up with the Merchants in mid-October. “I’ve been looking forward to that game ever since I joined the Merchants. It’s been on the schedule forever so I was really ready to play those guys. I wanted to show their whole team what I’ve got and prove them wrong.”
Clelland faced 14 shots in the first period, 10 in the middle frame and in the last 20 minutes he was credited with only one save.
“I had a few tough saves in the first and second periods and then the boys really shut it down in the third for me,” he said. “The guys as a whole played a good game throughout. In the first, second and third the boys were with me. They really wanted to get me that win.”
Bragging rights were also on the line for Clelland against his buddies from O’Leary high school.
“It’s always nice getting a shutout against all your old friends from high school. It was nice to shut them up.”
Clelland was between the pipes for the Red Wings in the Sept. 19 season opener against the Merchants and turned aside 27 shots in the 5-3 loss to the 2014 Founders Cup finalists.
The midget AA product of the KC Colts backed up Joe Mandrusiak during his stint with the Red Wings and wasn’t willing to be his caddy for a third season.
“He is a fourth year (player) and there were nine fourth years that come out to tryouts so I thought I was going to be a starter this year. It was going to be myself and a first year but it was going to be me and Joe again,” Clelland explained. “I didn’t want to be a backup again this year so I just took my chances with the Merchants and it’s looking good right now. Everything is going well. The boys are winning a lot.
“It just feels good to be on a winning team and with a good organization.”
Last season Clelland compiled a 4-9 record, 5.34 GAA and .859 save percentage after posting a 13-11 mark and 4.93 GAA in his rookie campaign.
Cleland’s debut with the Merchants was a biggie against the Fort Saskatchewan Hawks (16-6), who stunned the Money Men in the fifth and deciding game in the Founders Cup final in a jam-packed Akinsdale rink. He faced 23 shots in the 6-3 win Oct. 17 in St. Albert. The Merchants had lost three out of five games, including a 7-4 setback to the Red Wings in Edmonton, before knocking off the Hawks to kick-start a six-game winning streak. His arrival coincided with the Merchants winning 12 out of their last 14 games.
Clelland improved 10-1 with his new team in Sunday’s 4-3 overtime triumph against the Edmonton Royals (13-7-2) at Confederation Arena. His GAA is around the 2.50 mark and save percentage is above .900.
“Ever since I joined the team the boys have supported me. It hasn’t just been my effort, they’ve been playing really good in front of me and we’ve been piling up win after win.”
Friday’s shutout was Clelland’s second in three starts at home. He blocked 26 shots in the 3-0 win over the Stony Plain Flyers (13-9) Nov. 23.
“I was more mentally prepared for the game against the Red Wings than that one.”
First place was also at stake in the west division as the Merchants and Red Wings shared top spot in the standings.
The Merchants were led by Mike Roeleveld’s three goals and one assist.
Shorthanded goals by Thomas Rotundo and Mitch McNamara in a 30 second span in the opening period made it 3-0.
Mandrusiak (14-4, 2.52 GAA) started for the Red Wings but was replaced by Ryen Papirny after five goals on 15 shots in 31 minutes.
Taylor Wiebe potted the sixth goal with 2:58 left in the second.
McNamara, his twin brother Liam, and Jed Groenenboom finished with two assists apiece.
The teams combined for 33 infractions for 170 penalty minutes.
The Merchants raised their record to a league-best 17-5 for a four-point bulge over the Red Wings (14-5-2) in the west as captain Dan Rombough fired the overtime winner against the Royals.
The Merchants salvaged two points after coughing up the lead in the third on what Clelland described as “a couple of bad bounces.”
“The boys should’ve had more goals on the Royals’ goalie but all in all they played pretty good.”
This weekend the fourth-place finishers at provincials host the Beverly Warriors (10-5-4) Friday at 8 p.m. and Sunday they travel to play the Sherwood Park Knights (10-9-2) at 8:30 p.m.
“We’re really trying to finish off every game strong going into Christmas and solidify that number one spot and keeping it going into playoffs as the No. 1 seed,” said Clelland, a City of Edmonton construction worker. “We want to go all the way this year and we have a good chance of winning it all.”
