The St. Albert Merchants are back where they belong in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Four wins in a row catapulted the Merchants into first place in the west division with a league-high 9-3 record.
“We’re starting to come together as a team and build up some confidence,” said captain Dan Rombough.
The 2014 Founders Cup finalists and fourth-place finishers at provincials lost three out of five games during a sketchy part of their season before catching fire.
“At the start of the year we had a few key players out and that’s why we may have not been successful but most of the guys are back now and everyone is starting to get momentum,” said Rombough, one of 15 returnees from the 45-11-1 lineup last season. “When we lost a couple of games pretty early in the year nobody really panicked. We just came together as a team and decided what we needed to do and we start winning some more games and it seems to have worked.”
Last season the Merchants lost only three games while winning 34 out of 38 games as the CJHL pennant winners.
“It’s pretty much the same team as last year and I think we’ve even improved in a few areas,” said Rombough, a CJHL second team all-star defenceman in 2013/14.
The addition of former North Edmonton Red Wings’ netminder Ty Clelland has solidified the back end with the graduation of Justin Pawlenchuk, a two-time CJHL first team all-star goalie, and the departure of backup Max Cathcart. The duo combined for five shutouts and a league-best 2.32 GAA.
Clelland was between the pipes in the last four wins while allowing nine goals-against overall.
“Ty seems to be settling in pretty good,” Rombough said. “We’re confident in the goalies we have going forward and it just makes us more confident in our D zone. We’re able to have less goals against just because our goaltending is there and the team is a little more defensive minded.”
The Merchants ran their winning streak to four games in the 3-2 decision against the Sherwood Park Knights (5-6-1) at Akinsdale Arena on Sunday.
It was 2-2 after the first period as Brent McGugan and Mike Roeleveld connected for the Merchants and in the opening minute of the second Casey Reid sniped his team-leading ninth goal.
Shots were 46-26 for the Merchants, including an 18-5 margin in the middle frame.
“We had a lot of momentum earlier in the game,” said Rombough, who assisted on Roeleveld’s eighth goal, a power play effort with 4:25 left in the first to make it 2-1. “In the third period Sherwood Park really fought back but we still dominated the game. We just weren’t able to put anymore goals on the board.”
Two nights earlier in Leduc, enforcer Taylor Wiebe and rookie Miki Bruni potted their first goals of the season and in the third Rombough struck on the power play as the Merchants posted a 3-1 win over the Riggers (3-7-1).
Braeden Farge, another newcomer, picked up two assists.
The Merchants dominated the shot count at 55-25, highlighted by a 21-8 outburst in the first as both teams tallied.
“It was another situation where the score didn’t really reflect the way the game went. We had dominated them all over the ice but we were only able to put three in the net,” said Rombough, 20.
He leads Merchants defencemen in scoring with 10 points in 12 games after recording eight goals and 37 points last season.
“I try to contribute defensively and help out a little but offensively. We have good enough forwards that they can put the puck in the net so I just try and clear our zone, give our forwards the puck and let them do the rest,” said Rombough, a former midget AAA St. Albert Raider who has been paired with Karmen Ward, a fifth-year junior B veteran, in recent games.
Rombough, a third-year Merchant, has embraced the responsibilities as the team’s captain and works in tandem with assistants’ Ward, Wiebe and Roeleveld to provide leadership on the team.
“It’s definitely an honour to be recognized as a leader on the team but it could’ve really been anyone (picked as the captain). It’s such an experienced team that everybody really plays a leadership role. It's not too hard to get the guys together at all. Everyone is contributing in pointing the team in the right direction,” said University of Alberta kinesiology student.
This weekend, the Merchants play the Spruce Grove Regals (4-6-2) Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Grant Fuhr Arena and the Strathcona Bruins (5-6) Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at Fultonvale Arena.
ICE CHIPS: The 15th annual Gord Hollett Memorial Alumni Game is scheduled for Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena. Former Merchants interested in reliving the dream are asked to contact Justin Kidd, one of the greatest scorers in team history, at 780-982-0303.
The Merchants are holding a pub night and silent auction at The Bourbon Room on Nov. 15. For more information, contact manager Craig Dory at 780-691-9824 or [email protected].
