There were plenty of regular bodies out of the line-up for both the Spruce Grove Saints and Lloydminster Bobcats Friday night when the two teams met the Civic Centre.
A total of five players were off to Canada West’s selection camp which begins tomorrow night in Calgary, while both teams also were also dealing with injuries as well.
In the end, the Spruce Grove Saints came away with a 4-1 victory over the hometown Bobcats, in a game which featured three short-handed goals.
The scoring get underway in the first period when the Saints broke the ice on a goal by Austin Parmiter.
Then, with the Bobcats looking to respond, the Saints were caught with too many men on the ice, giving the Cats their first power-play of the contest.
Unfortunately for Lloydminster the puck wound up in their own net. Josh Harris potted a short-handed rebound past Bobcats goalie Nick Sanders to extend the Saint’s lead to 2-0.
The score remained 2-0 after the first period, and then Spruce Grove extended their lead in the second.
Damon Zimmer took a feed in the middle of Bobcats zone and beat Sanders for the Saint’s second short-handed goal of the game.
The short-handed trend continued later in the middle frame, but this time in the Bobcats favour.
Zach Ziegler sprung Zach Kaiser on a breakaway and Kaiser made no mistake to pull the Bobcats within 3-1. For Kaiser it was his 9th goal of the season and third time this year scoring short-handed.
After the Orangeville, Ontario native found the back of the net, the Civic Centre crowd flooded the ice with teddy bears, as the team held their annual Teddy Bear Toss night.
Down 3-1 after two, the Saints got the only goal of the third when Tyson Gruninger beat Sanders.
In the end, the Saints outshot the Bobcats 42-20, as Sanders made 38 saves for Lloydminster and Hayden Missler made 19 saves for Spruce Grove.
Next up for the Bobcats will be a home date with the Okotoks Oilers tomorrow night at the Civic.
