On the brink of elimination, the glass was still half full for the St. Albert Merchants to taste playoff success in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
The Money Men trailed the best-of-seven semifinal 3-1 after Wednesday’s 5-2 setback to the Wetaskiwin Icemen.
“We’ve come back from worst than this. We’ve battled back the whole playoffs so I’m sure we can do it,” forward Casey Reid said on Thursday.
Game five was staged Friday in St. Albert and the score was unavailable at press time.
If needed, game six is 2 p.m. Sunday in Wetaskiwin and game seven is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Akinsdale Arena.
The series winner will play the Sherwood Park Knights or the North Edmonton Red Wings in the best-of-five Founders Cup championship and the two finalists qualify for provincials, April 4 to 7 in Wainwright.
“Our goal right now is three wins,” Reid said. “We just have to come out strong (Friday) in the first period, get a couple of goals and play defence the rest of the way and go from there.”
The Merchants are 6-5 in the post-season after losing game four in Wetaskiwin. The home team dominated the contest after falling behind 2-0.
“It was a pretty tough loss,” said Reid.
His third goal of the playoffs at 15:01 in period one, a shorthanded effort with his older brother, Brady, in the penalty box for roughing, opened the scoring.
“Jordan MacPhee passed it to me on the wing and it was just a quick wrister to the far side,” said Reid.
He also assisted on Dan Rombough’s first playoff goal, a power-play strike at 3:46 in period two
The Icemen replied with three straight to end the middle frame, including the go-ahead marker with 61 seconds left in the period. They made it 4-2 four seconds into the third and closed out the scoring with 12:26 to play.
“As soon as we got that lead we kind of laid back a bit and let them get right back into the game and they were firing on all cylinders,” Reid said.
The Icemen went 1-for-6 on the power play and Merchants were 1-for-4.
Netminder Justin Pawlenchuk (3.25 GAA in 664 minutes played) started his league-leading 11th straight playoff game in the loss.
The road team was victorious in the three previous games, including the Icemen’s 4-3 win Sunday in game three in St. Albert.
The Icemen connected three times in the second after A.J. Yariwon scored the game’s first goal at 5:27 in the period.
In the third Yariwon found the back of the net, but the Icemen replied less than two minutes later on the power play.
Mike Roeleveld notched his fifth goal and team-high 13th playoff point with 10 minutes remaining.
The Merchants capitalized once on six power plays and the Icemen went 2-for-4.
“In Sunday’s loss we were in the game pretty much the whole time,” Reid said.
“In the last game we lost we kind of let off in the third period and let them get a couple of weak goals.”
With the Merchants hit hard by injuries, Reid was promoted from third-line centre status to the top line at right wing to skate alongside Ryan Harrison and tough guy Stefan Meunier.
Reid’s eight points in the playoffs tied his brother’s total for fourth best on the Merchants. It’s the first year the products of the St. Albert minor hockey system have played together on the same team.
“It’s pretty fun. It’s really the only chance we’ve been able to do it so we’re trying to make it last and go as far as we can in the playoffs and maybe make provincials,” said Casey, 19, a first-year Merchant.
The Reids are cut from the same cloth as their dad, John, a former St. Albert Saint, Sherwood Park Crusader and Alberta Golden Bear. The bantam AAA John Reid Memorial Tournament was renamed in John’s honour in 2004. At the tournament the John Reid Memorial Award for heart and hustle is presented to a St. Albert Sabre who symbolizes the person and hockey player John was and the $1,000 John Reid Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a former Sabre. Harrison was the 2013 scholarship winner and the 2007 recipient of the heart and hustle award.
Brady, 21, is a forward and the Merchants’ captain who Casey looks up to.
“You never really know what kind of player he is until you play with him,” Casey said. “He’s a good leader. He gets our team fired up.”
