Defence is the name of the game the St. Albert Raiders are playing in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
The Raiders posted identical 3-0 shutouts in a four-day span at Akinsdale Arena with Josh Dechaine between the pipes in the last league game and the playoff opener.
“The team is playing really well defensively,” Dechaine said. “In the last two games we’ve been taking away the quality shots and making sure I can see the puck at all times. The boys are making it pretty easy on me, which helps a lot.”
Dechaine’s first shutout of the season was Sunday’s 35-save gem against the Red Deer Chiefs to wrap up the regular season.
His second goose egg was Wednesday’s 27-save effort against the Grande Prairie Storm in game one in the best-of-three north division playoffs.
The last time Dechaine posted consecutive shutouts was with the atom AA Barons.
“It’s definitely an exciting feeling. You work all year for one of those and it finally came late in the season and then to have another back to back like that just shows how hard our team has been working at making defence a priority so it’s a good feeling for all of us,” said Dechaine, who was 12-6-5 in league play with a 3.35 GAA and .901 save percentage.
The Raiders averaged six goals against during their four-game losing streak, including two shutout defeats, before blanking the Chiefs for only their second win in eight games.
“We had a few games in a row where we had a high goals-against and then to finally have that game where we didn’t have any against us was good to see. It really shows how we’ve been improving,” Dechaine said. “It was also good to see how we do when we have all of our guys back because we had a bunch of guys injured. We know we’re not a one man team so we need everyone in order to win.”
The playoff lid-lifter was scoreless until Cam Mazur struck on the power play with 7:15 left in the second period.
Goals 47 seconds apart by Tyson Chizma and Ryan Cooper in the third left the Storm trailing by three with 15:41 remaining.
The Raiders were credited with six shots in the period and 25 overall.
In the division standings, the Raiders (18-9-7) finished tied for second as the No. 3 playoff seed in the north and the Storm (14-13-7) placed sixth.
The Storm swept the season series 5-3 Oct. 26 in St. Albert and 7-3 Jan. 17 in Grande Prairie.
“They’re definitely a very hardworking team. They’re never really short of energy or effort. We’ve got to make sure that we can match the intensity and we know we can win if we do that,” said Dechaine, 16.
Game two was played Friday in Grande Prairie but the score was unavailable at press time.
Game three, if needed, is 1:15 p.m. Sunday at Akinsdale Arena.
A series victory by the Raiders would set up a best-of-five north semifinal against the Lloydminster Bobcats (19-10-5). The Raiders dropped both games to the Bobcats by scores of 8-1 Jan. 11 in Lloydminster and 6-5 Feb. 1 in St. Albert.
Last year the Raiders finished fifth at 18-11-6 and in the best-of-five north final lost to the Bobcats in four games.
This year the Raiders challenged the Canadian Athletic Club (20-10-4) for top spot with a run of nine consecutive wins during a 16-game (13-0-3) undefeated streak but fell out of contention down the stretch.
The top two teams in the north and south earned first-round byes but Dechaine believes it’s actually a blessing in disguise for the Raiders to start the playoffs right off the bat.
“Most of us were actually pretty happy with that because it gets us extra hockey, it gives us momentum rolling into the second round and we’ve got some wins under our belts,” said the Grade 11 Paul Kane High School student. “It also helps to get that playoff experience and get the jitters out in the first round because it gets us ready for the second round.”
