The Bobcats were not able to snap Spruce Grove’s winning streak on Friday night, as the Bobcats fought hard and outshot the Saints by a wide margin but it wasn’t good enough tonight, losing 4-2.
After a coming off a 4-3 road victory in Brooks on Tuesday night, the Bobcats were back in town to face the Spruce Grove Saints, along with their 13 game winning streak. Coming into the game the Bobcats were sitting 3rd place in the North Division standings with a record of 13-9-1, one spot above them were the Spruce Grove Saints who were 17-4-1 on the season, Spruce Grove having not lost a game since October 1st.
The Bobcats got the scoring started near the halfway point of the 1st period, Lukas Biensch jammed one home, assists going to Austin McDonald and Tanner Dunkle. But the Saints wouldn’t back down as they came right back with goals of their own. Two minutes after the Bobcats goal, Caleb Belter evened up the game at 1-1, then Carson Samoridny would give the Saints the lead two minutes after that. After 20 minutes the Saints were ahead 2-1, despite the Bobcats outshooting the Saints 14-8.
The Bobcats would continue to press in the second period, outshooting the Saints again, this time 9-5. Taylor Mulder dropped the gloves against Geoffrey Crisfield in a heavy weight tilt getting the fans out of their seats, but the momentum would not result in a goal for the ‘Cats in the period. The score stood at 2-1 after 2 periods.
But the Bobcats continued to apply the pressure and it resulted in a goal. A beautiful tic-tack-toe play between Grant Baker, Eric Therrien and ending with Braden Crone finishing tied this one up 2-2. Unfortunately with 4 minutes remaining Spruce Grove would get the go ahead goal from Caleb Belter and then Jarid Hauptman would add the empty netter to give the Saints a 4-2 victory.
The Bobcats outshot the Saints 33-15, but GM/Coach Garry Vanhereweghe says it takes more than just shots to be successful, “If you’re going to win hockey games, you’re going to win them in front of the net, which we did again tonight, we had 33 shots, but out of those 33 how many was there traffic in front?”
Bobcats hit the road to face Drayton Valley on Sunday, and then face Sherwood Park on Wednesday night at home.
