The St. Albert Steel have no more moves to make before Tuesday’s trade deadline after dealing away the majority of their veterans last month.
“I don’t think we’re going to move anyone off the current roster. That could change but we’re not aggressive right now in making a bunch of changes,” said Greg Parks, head coach and general manger of the last-place team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
The only 20-year-old left is goalie Rhys Hadfield (3-19, 5.00 GAA). He is among five returning players remaining after Parks traded away all but one of the Steel’s 20-year-olds for younger players, prospects and future considerations in early December.
“We’re obviously pretty young but we’re comfortable with the group we’ve got here and we’re just going to move forward,” Parks said. “It’s a group that has 18 auditions left for making an impression for next year. It should be an exciting time for a lot of these guys.”
The Steel (6-34-2) were a distant 21 points back of Grande Prairie Storm (16-21-3) for the last playoff spot in the north division, when the teams hooked up Friday in St. Albert. The score was unavailable at press time.
“The wins and losses are irrelevant at this point. It’s got to be the work ethic. We’ve got to be the hardest working team, whether it’s 1-0, 4-0 or 6-0. If we’re winning it’s the same thing. Nothing changes. That’s the attitude and the culture we have to build here and we have a bunch of young guys who are buying in,” Parks said. “There have been mistakes and there have been some errors for sure, but I can honestly say we’ve worked extremely hard every game.”
Injuries also played a role in the Steel losing 10 in a row and 17 of their last 18 games.
“It would be kind of nice to get everybody healthy. We really haven’t seen the group together as a whole since the [December roster cut down] deadline. If we can get those guys back that will make a difference for sure,” Parks said. “It’s not an excuse either, but the schedule hasn’t been very forgiving with six games in a row with two teams [Spruce Grove Saints and Fort McMurray Oil Barons] that are top four in the country, so that made it a little bit difficult too.”
In the last six games the Steel lost 7-1 and 6-1 to the Saints (32-2-7), ranked third in the Canadian Junior Hockey League, and consecutive defeats of 7-1, 7-2, 7-1 and 5-0 to the fourth-ranked Oil Barons (33-4-3).
In Wednesday’s shutout loss in front of an announced crowd of 325 at Performance Arena, the Oil Barons scored three goals on 13 shots in the first period against the AJHL’s worst defensive team (200 GA in 42 games). The Steel tested netminder Brady Hoffman only five times in the period. Shots overall were 34-20 for the visitors.
The Oil Barons finished the game with two power-play goals and one shorthanded.
“We held them to 10 shots in the second and 11 in the third so the guys aren’t quitting at all,” Parks said.
Tonight the Steel travel to Bonnyville to play the Pontiacs (26-11-4) at 7 p.m.
