The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres are playing with a competitive edge by putting the nose to the grindstone.
“We’re practicing harder and we’re playing a lot better than we have been,” said captain Levi Fesyk of the Sabres (4-9-3), winners of three of the last four games before battling CAC Lehigh Cement (5-11-1) Friday at Callingwood Arena. The score was unavailable at press time.
Both teams were tied for the fourth and final playoff spot in the nitro north division of the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
“That is a big game,” Fesyk said. “We definitely want to make the playoffs. That would be the goal.”
The Sabres started gaining traction with extra skating sessions.
“After practices we actually do this thing called commitment skates. It’s basically a hard skate we do just to get the guys focused,” Fesyk said. “The skate is for you to commit to the team and that contributes into games and everyone will start committing and playing better.”
A stretch of two ties and five losses ended with the second victory of the season against the last-place Maple Leafs (0-16-1), 6-1 Nov. 18 at Millwoods Arena.
Ten days later, the Sabres knocked off the KC Squires (11-7-1), the division leaders, 3-1 at Akinsdale Arena and proved it wasn’t a fluke in Monday’s come-from-behind 4-3 decision at Clareview Arena.
Zakk Makeiff’s winner with 4:16 remaining capped off a three-goal outburst in the third period after the Squires made it 3-1 with 12:08 to go.
“Michael Romeo scored two in one shift which really brought our team up. It gave us a lot of intensity,” Fesyk said.
Carmelo Crandell also scored on the penalty kill in middle period.
Shots were 13-8 in the third and 37-26 overall for the Sabres.
Luke Roberts (3-2-1, 3.20 GAA) tended the twine in the bounce-back game from Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the host Leduc Oil Kings (12-3-2) of the charger north division.
The first of two Leduc goals in the second was a power-play marker and the last goal was an empty-netter while shorthanded with 11 ticks on the clock.
The shot count was 41-38 for the home team with Teagan Kendrick (1-7-2) in net.
Kendrick also backstopped the Sabres past the Squires last month with 19 saves as Carter Kowalyk, Marko Stolic and Connor Dale’s shorthanded effort put the Sabres up 3-0 in the first. The Sabres were credited with 12 shots in the period and 29 in total.
“KC is the top team in our division right now so those were good wins,” Fesyk said.
The recent turnaround coincided with the Winnipeg Jets AAA Classic in late November as the Sabres finished 1-4. Scores were 5-3 against the Thunder Bay Kings and losses of 4-2 to the Minot Wolves, 3-1 to the Winnipeg Monarchs, 3-2 in a shootout to the CAC Lehigh Cement and 6-2 to the Winnipeg Sharks.
“The competition was actually very good. We played a lot of great teams. We played well as a team but I don’t think we were at that level yet so we kept on practicing and practicing and that leads to that level of success,” said Fesyk, who is joined by Makeiff as returning Sabres from the 2018 AMBHL provincial finalists, 9-4 in the playoffs after going 25-3-8 as the second-best team in the regular season.
This season the Sabres loaded up on first-year bantams with eight in the fold.
Fesyk emphasized “playing as a team” is important with the roster almost split in half with first- and second-year bantams.
“We’ve got a lot of first-years and we have to learn that they’re part of our team so we have to get used to that and not separate them from the other people,” said the Grade 9 Sir George Simpson student.
Fesyk, a centre with two goals and nine points, skated on a line with Makeiff and Liam Cochrane in the last game against the Squires.
Makeiff is the team leader in goals with eight and Cochrane is the top scorer with 17 points.
Upcoming for the Sabres is next weekend’s homestand against the Sherwood Park Flyers (9-7) Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Troy Murray Arena and the Calgary Bisons (11-4-2) Saturday at 1:45 p.m. and Calgary Flames (10-4-3) Sunday at 10:45 a.m. at the Akinsdale rink.
The Bisons and Flames are among the 16 teams confirmed for the 41st annual John Reid Memorial Tournament, Jan. 17 to 20 at Servus Credit Union Place.
The Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (12-2-2), Lloydminster Bobcats (11-2-3) and Red Deer Rebels (12-4-2) are also representing the AMBHL.
The Rink Hockey Academy Nationals of Winnipeg, Notre Dame Hounds of Wilcox, Sask., Burnaby Winter Club Academy, Delta Hockey Academy Green, Yale Hockey Academy Lions of Abbotsford, B.C., St. George’s Saints of Vancouver, West Van Academy of Vancouver, Los Angeles Jr. Kings and Phoenix Jr. Coyotes are also competing.
The Sabres face off against Burnaby, Los Angeles and Yale in division action.
The tournament, hosted by the St. Albert Raiders Hockey Club, consists of 42 games with four divisions divided into two pools to determine the playoff pairings in the A, B and C brackets.
In the last tournament, the Sabres qualified in the B playoff bracket after placing third in pool play and finished 2-3 overall.
“The team is very excited. It’s going to be a great experience,” Fesyk said. ”The competition is going to be very difficult to play against. There is going to be a lot of fans cheering for you but you've got to stay calm and do your thing out there.”
Reid scholarship
The online application deadline for the John Reid Memorial Scholarship is Jan. 6.Individuals who played bantam AAA for the Sabres after the 2004-05 season and played hockey in St. Albert for a minimum of three years are eligible to apply for the $1,000 scholarship.
Visit www.johnreidmemorial.com for more information and the application form.
The successful applicant will be announced Jan. 17 at 7:15 p.m. during the opening ceremonies at Go Auto Arena prior to the 8 p.m. game between the Sabres and Los Angeles.
Previous winners were Justin Kueber, Joshua Maeda, Steven Woolger, Brady McCorriston, Ryan Harrison, Liam Liston, Steven Canduro, Brady Reid, Brad Holmes, Tyler Dea and Josh Perrott.
The Reid scholarship was established by the parent group of the 2004-05 Sabres to recognize former St. Albert bantam AAA players who are contributing members of society, academically inspired, volunteer driven and display a passion for hockey like Reid possessed.
Reid was a top scorer with the St. Albert Saints and Sherwood Park Crusaders in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and the Alberta Golden Bears.
Reid was also a positive role model for coaching youths in hockey and lacrosse.
Reid died of leukemia at age 41 on Nov. 6, 2003, and the next year the St. Albert bantam AAA tournament was renamed in his memory.
Donations to the scholarship fund are being accepted by the John Reid Memorial Tournament Society.
