The biggest victory of the season for the St. Albert Merchants turned the quarter-final series against the Stony Plain Flyers into a best-of-three playoff.
Sunday’s 3-1 clutch effort at Glenn Hall Centennial Arena evened the best-of-five affair at one win apiece and in the process set the stage for a pivotal game three tonight at 8 p.m. Akinsdale Arena.
“It was a huge win. We need that for sure. We couldn’t go down 2-0,” said netminder Ty Clelland. “We have momentum right now going into game three at home so it would be awesome to take control of the series.”
The Flyers pulled off a stunning 2-1 overtime decision Friday in St. Albert.
“We should’ve beat them. I guess we gave them one,” Clelland said. “We controlled the pace in both games.”
The Flyers, ranked fifth in the west division at 23-12-3, were coming off a best-of-three preliminary round thriller against the Beverly Warriors (23-11-4) that went the distance after Beverly won the opening game.
The Merchants, repeat winners of the Challenge Cup as the top team in the Capital Junior B Hockey League at 32-6, were playing their first game since Feb. 10. Last year’s Founders Cup finalists and fourth-place team at provincials closed out the regular season with nine straight wins while going 19-1 in their last 20 games.
In league play the Merchants beat the Flyers three times by a combined 16-5 score after dropping a 4-3 decision Nov. 7 in the team’s fourth loss of the season.
“Stony is hosting provincials this year so they certainly have a strong team,” said head coach Scott Rodda. “The playoffs are a whole different can of worms and this year there is even more parity than last year and although we had a great regular season it will be a very hard journey to the end. I’m confident though that if we play our game and make the necessary sacrifices and ensure a consistent effort is given every game, we should do very well.”
So far the series has been a titanic struggle between two determined foes.
“Both teams have battled hard in the first two games and this will prove to be anything but an easy series for either team. We’re confident but realize any team can beat anyone else with strong goaltending, lucky bounces and any sense of sustained momentum,” Rodda said. “The Merchants will need to commit to the little things that produce big results; sacrifices for the greater cause of team goals, blocking shots, taking a hit and making every shift matter.”
Clelland described the Flyers as a tough nut to crack.
“They’re a hard working, right on you type of a team. They’re not going to quit no matter the score. They don’t have the most talent but they work hard and that makes up for it,” he said.
The series opener was decided on Aaron Letourneau’s blast in the first sudden-death period.
“There was just a lot of traffic in front of the net and Letourneau took a slapshot from the point that beat me through a screen. I got a piece of it but it got by me,” said Clelland, who stopped 32 shots in the loss.
The Merchants cashed in on the power play in the first period on Casey Reid’s goal and Brady Vanthuyne tied it at even strength with 8:18 left in the middle frame.
Courtney Lane of the Flyers stopped 18 shots in the third and two more in overtime for a game-high 48 saves.
“The Stony Plain goalie saw a lot of the shots and we didn’t get enough guys in front. We just couldn’t bury it really and that’s what it came down to. We couldn’t finish in that game,” Clelland said.
Game two was scoreless until Josh Jewell struck on the power play and Jordan MacPhee scored unassisted during a 5:32-minute span before the halfway mark in the second.
“MacPhee was just relentless on the D-man, stripped the puck and went in and went shelf on the goalie. It was a nice goal,” Clelland said.
Markus Lovsin of the Flyers made it a one-goal game on the power play with 11:39 to play and Blair Macuch potted the insurance marker with 4:44 to go.
Shots were 9-3 for the Flyers in the third and 30-25 overall for the Merchants.
“It was a good game coming back from that loss. In the first period the boys really bought it and we outshot them 17-7,” Clelland said. “We were just all over them all game really. The only pressure they had was on the power play (1-for-8) when we got into penalty trouble and that’s when they got most of their chances.”
Clelland, 20, will have to be rock solid between the pipes if the Money Men are to win their first Founders Cup since 2005. The City of Edmonton construction worker joined the team in mid-October after two seasons with the North Edmonton Red Wings and was a workhorse logging 1,566 minutes while compiling a 24-1 record, 3.07 GAA, two shutouts and .897 save percentage.
“Every game I just try to give the boys a chance to win. I’ve just got to do my part and the boys go do their thing and it works well,” Clelland said. “I want to make the big saves for them and if they see me battling every game it feels like the boys are playing for me and that’s how we’ve been successful all season.”
ICE CHIPS: Game four is 8:30 p.m. Friday in Stony Plain and game five, if needed, is 8 p.m. Sunday in St. Albert.
The Merchants unveiled their spiffy new home game jerseys in game one to rave reviews.
“They look awesome. Huge thanks to our sponsor OJ’s (Original Joe’s in St. Albert) and to Elite (Sportswear) for their incredible work getting them done in such short time which allowed us to have them for our first playoff game,” Rodda said.
