Sunday's junior B hockey game brought the community together in a show of support for the individuals affected by the recent tragedy in St. Albert.
Akinsdale Arena was packed to capacity as the St. Albert Merchants donated all proceeds from the 13-5 victory against the Leduc Riggers to the RCMP trust fund established in the aftermath of the Jan. 17 shootings of Const. David Wynn and Auxiliary Const. Derek Bond at Apex Casino.
Wynn, 42, was shot in the head and never regained consciousness and died in an Edmonton hospital on Jan. 21.
Bond, 49, suffered bullet wounds to his right arm and torso and was later released from hospital.
An emotional ceremonial puck drop featured Wynn's three sons – Alex, Nathan and Matthew – flanked by RCMP officers in their red serge, as well as Merchants' captain Dan Rombough and Austin Burton of Leduc.
"It was good a lot of people came out and showed support for what we were actually doing that night," Rombough said. "During the ceremony there was definitely a lot of support from the crowd and guys on the team. There was a lot of respect in the building."
Both teams had RCMP decals on their helmets and the Merchants will continue to wear them for the balance of the season in support of local law enforcement.
Head coach Scott Rodda stressed the score was secondary to what the ultimate goal was for the game.
"To see the community support such a great cause that was the real winner in all of this," Rodda said. "The attendance of the family and the ceremonial puck drop was by far the highlight of the evening. Their courage and strength is inspiring.
"The opportunity to thank our local RCMP and the incredible work they do, to pay tribute to first responders and to support the families going forward was what this was all about. I'm so proud of our players and their parents and family for wanting to make a difference in our community. I think (Sunday) night we were all winners."
The Merchants wanted to do their part to help with the grieving process the community was going through.
"When the idea was brought up everybody was definitely on board and supporting it. Everybody thought it was a really good idea. A lot of different guys stepped up with different ideas," Rombough said.
It was another example of how the Merchants have embraced their role as the top hockey team in St. Albert.
"Our team has taken pride in helping in other good causes in the community, like the food bank and Special Olympics, and this was an easy one to get behind and it really was initiated by the players in calling their coach to ask what they could do. It's heart-warming to know this is more than a game, that coaching these young men provides an opportunity for so much more," Rodda said.
The winning 50/50 ticket was worth $2,243. The Merchants donated their share to the fundraiser and the winner from St. Albert also gave back half of their winnings and the Money Men decided to match that total.
The final tally, including gate admission, was $5,000.
"The Merchants are so proud of our community for stepping up and helping with donations of food, coffee, printing and the list goes on. We will be sure to recognize them all on our website (www.stalbertmerchants.com) as their contributions to making it a successful night they were certainly a part of," Rodda said.
Huge win
The fundraiser also brought out the best in the first-place Merchants in front of the largest home crowd since the fifth and deciding game in the 2014 Founders Cup final against the Fort Saskatchewan Hawks.
"It was a little bit of a different atmosphere than a playoff game. People are there for a different reason, to show support for the community rather than just go to the hockey game itself," Rombough said.
The Merchants put on a show in the first period by scoring seven goals, all at even strength, on 16 shots. It started with Liam McNamara's effort 32 seconds into the contest and ended with Josh Jewell's tally with 8:48 left in the period.
"Before the game everyone was pretty excited. We had the game in our minds all week. We were ready to play right from the puck drop," Rombough said. "Having so many fans in the stands always gives you that extra incentive to want to play harder and we just knew we had to come out and get on them right away and make it a good game."
Mike Roeleveld potted a pair 16 seconds apart to make it 5-0 before the seven-minute mark.
Taylor Wiebe, Brent McGugan and Blair Johnson also scored in the first.
Johnson led all scorers with two goals and three assists after compiling two goals and two assists in 23 games before the offensive explosion.
Leduc (9-21-4) outscored the Merchants 5-3 in the middle frame as A.J. Yariwon, Casey Reid and Johnson found the back of the net.
In the third Yariwon and Rombough struck on the power play and Reid recorded the team's final goal with 7:17 remaining.
Jewell finished the game with four points and Yariwon, Roeleveld, Reid and McGugan had three apiece.
Shots were 53-40 for the Merchants and Ty Clelland (20-1, 3.22 GAA) was in net.
The win was the fourth in a row and the 14th in 15 games for the first-place Merchants (27-6), while improving their home record to 15-2.
The Merchants have five games left until the playoffs, starting with tonight's tilt against the Beverly Warriors (20-9-4) at 8 p.m. at Londonderry Arena.
"We're trying to treat every game right now like it's a playoff game. We want to get into good habits and get the right intensity and the right mindset. We're also trying to cut back on penalty minutes (league-high 1,234 PIM) a little bit because we feel it's an area we have to improve on for the playoffs," said Rombough, an all-star defenceman with 11 goals, including a team-leading six on the power play, and 24 points in 34 games.
The Merchants have lost more games than last season (34-3-1) in league play but Rombough believes they are a stronger team than the one that lost the Founders Cup final and finished fourth at provincials.
"We had a little bit of adversity at the start of the year. Our record (5-3) wasn't where we wanted it to be so we just sat down as a team and everyone said their two cents on what we should work on and where we should go from there. In the mid-part of the season it was really successful so hopefully we'll carry that through to the end and into playoffs," said Rombough, 20, one of 15 players back from last season's 45-11-1 team. "No matter how successful you are in the regular season the playoffs is definitely a different story but because we've dealt with a little bit more adversity this year I think we're a little bit more ready for the playoffs."
