If moral victories counted in the standings, the St. Albert Steel would not be in last place in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
The fourth loss in a row and the 21st defeat in 28 games for the slumping Steel was Sunday’s 3-2 setback against the Fort McMurray Oil Barons in front of an announced crowd of 315 at Performance Arena.
It was a winnable two points against a team playing its third game in as many days.
“It was one of our better efforts of the year. All four lines were going,” said left-winger Jamie Johnson. “I thought for sure it was our game.”
Reed Linaker’s second goal of the game knotted the score at 2-2 at 3:14 of the third period, but on Matthew Koebel’s go-ahead marker 90 seconds later Steel netminder Rhys Hadfield lost his balance while trying to cover up a slow dribbler and the puck slid over the goal line.
“They got a few lucky bounces against us,” Johnson said.
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, highlighted by a penalty shot awarded to the Oil Barons by referee Colin Watt, Linaker put the Steel on the scoreboard at 7:25 of the second. The Oil Barons replied at 9:25 on the power play by Markus Gerbrandt and 14:07 by Mike Green.
Before the period ended, captain Taylor Fraser put his body on the line to block a blast from the point with the Steel shorthanded.
Despite a power play with 6:36 to play, the Steel was unable to snipe the equalizer against netminder Tanner Jaillet.
Shots were 9-6 for the Steel in the third and 31-28 overall by the north division-leading Oil Barons (22-3-2). Hadfield (2-11, 4.78 GAA) was named the Steel’s player of the game.
“They had a power play at the end of the second but we were able to kill that off. It gave the boys a lot of momentum, but in the third we just couldn’t capitalize,” said Johnson.
The midget AAA product of the KC Pats assisted on both of Linaker’s goals to extend his point-scoring streak to eight in five games.
“The last couple of games I’ve been playing with Linaker and Fraser and they’re both great hockey players. Before that I was playing with [John] Baird and [Colten] Meaver and they’re great linemates too,” Johnson said. “Playing on any line with those people it’s tough not to put up points. I’m just happy I can do my part out there.”
Johnson ranks third in team scoring with 22 points in 24 games after joining the Steel in late September in a trade with the Oil Barons for future considerations.
“I’m definitely pretty confident right now. I’ve been coming to the rink this last while going, ‘All right, I can just kind of relax out there and slow everything down.’ I just have to keep it up now,” said the former Nipawin Hawk of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
Johnson, 19, strung together three goals in three games before picking up three assists in Friday’s 8-5 loss to the Lloydminster Bobcats (18-7-2) in front of only 143 fans at Performance Arena. The Steel failed to show up for the opening faceoff and trailed 4-1 while outshot 19-5 in the first. After two periods the Bobcats led 6-4.
The shot count was 49-20 for the visitors as Ty Swabb (3-10-2, 4.04 GAA) took the loss in net. Three goals by the Bobcats came on the power play.
Baird struck twice and added one assist in the loss. The 20-year-old centre is the Steel’s top scorer with 14 goals and 27 points in 26 games.
Linaker, rookie Andrew Gillespie and Craig Dworschak also scored.
“The Lloyd game was a bit of a [crappy] game. Both teams were running around a little too much,” Johnson said. “It was just a shootout and they came out on top.”
This weekend the Steel host the Calgary Canucks (8-19-1) Friday and the Camrose Kodiaks (17-12-1) Saturday. Game times are 7 p.m.
“If we practice hard all week and get some momentum going and a good work ethic going we’ll get a couple of wins for sure,” Johnson said.
With only five wins the Steel are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in their five years in St. Albert. The Grande Prairie Storm (9-14-3) lead the Steel by nine points with two games in hand in the race for the seventh and last playoff spot in the north.
“I definitely see us getting a lot better here in the future,” Johnson said.
ICE CHIPS: Steel left-winger Ryan Berlin, 17, chipped in with two assists in the 5-3 victory by Team West against Team East at the recent Canadian Junior Hockey League prospects games at Langley, B.C. The west won the two-game, total-goal series 9-6 after posting a 4-3 overtime decision in the first game.
