Following a pair of road losses over the weekend, the Lloydminster Bobcats (16-27-2) will be looking for a bounce back when they return home to the Civic Centre Wednesday afternoon to host the Sherwood Park Crusaders (21-20-2). Over 1400 students are expected to pack the Civic with today’s game being Hockey Hooky Day! The Bobcats and LPSD have teamed up to have each kid in grades 3-6 from the school division attend the game. Puck drop is at 12:00 p.m. at the Centennial Civic Centre. Today, will be the fourth of six meetings this season between the two teams.
Heading In: Happy To Be Home
Although points are still tough to come by on the road for the Lloydminster Bobcats, the same can’t be said about the team when they play in their home rink. The Bobcats enter the game having gone 14-7-1 this season in games played at the Civic. They have also won seven of their last eight games at home. Lloydminster will need that trend to continue today if they hope to keep within striking distance of the 5th place Crusaders. Currently ten points back of the Cru, much more of a deficit may be too much to overcome.
Head to Head
In their three meetings so far this season, the Crusaders have had the upper hand. Sherwood Park has won all three of their match-ups thus far, including two played in Sherwood and one in Lloydminster. The Crusaders won at home 5-3 on October 18th. On November 5th, Sherwood Park came into the Civic and left with a 4-3 shoot-out win, and most recently, the Cru downed the Cats 6-2 in Sherwood Park on December 8th.
The Foxwarren Connection
For the first time since their days with the Yellowhead Chiefs Midget ‘AAA’ squad, both Tucker Scantlebury and Jacob Tibbatts found themselves suiting up for the same time over the weekend. The two athletes, who grew up together in Foxwarren, MB played hockey together growing up, but prior to Friday night, had not played together since the 2015/16 season as members of the Chiefs. Tibbatts, who was acquired by the Cats on January 10th, went on to score his first career junior goal while making his Bobcats debut on January 13th. Scantlebury meanwhile, has posted seven goals and ten assists since being acquired from Melville earlier this season. Perhaps with the two of them back on the same time, even more magic could be created.
Upcoming Schedule
Bobcats @ Drayton Valley – Friday January 26, 7:30 p.m. – Drayton Valley Omniplex
Fort McMurray @ Bobcats – Saturday January 27, 7:30 p.m. – Centennial Civic Centre
Bobcats @ Bonnyville – Saturday February 3, 7:30 p.m. – RJ Lalonde Arena