The first trip of the season to Sherwood Park was not a friendly one for the Lloydminster Bobcats.
Despite a late comeback attempt, the Bobcats ultimately fell 5-3 to the Crusaders.
Having already killed off one penalty in the first period, Lloydminster once again found themselves on the penalty kill late in the frame.
Unfortunately, the Cats were unable to kill of the second penalty and Erik Miller found the back of the net in his Sherwood Park debut.
Trailing 1-0 after one period, the Bobcats came out flying in the middle frame but had nothing to show for it. They directed 16 shots at Crusaders goalie Brandon Vogel but were unable to beat him. Instead, the Crusaders converted on a 2-on-1 and a pair of breakaways for a 4-0 lead after two.
Lloydminster was finally able to break through early in the third.
Breaking in on their own 2-on-1, Zach Webb passed the puck over to Zach Kaiser who made no mistake, trimming the Sherwood Park lead to 4-1.
The home team would once again respond on the power-play, however, Miller scored his second of the game to restore the four goal lead wit just over 13 minutes to play.
The Bobcats continued to battle, and Zach Webb found the back of the net twice in the seven minutes, but that is as close as the Cats would get.
Starting in goal for Lloyd, Pierce Diamond made 36 saves on 41 shots, while Crusaders goalie Brandon Vogel stopped 29 of 32 shots.
The Bobcats finished the game 1 for 2 on the power-play, while Sherwood Park went 2 for 3.
With the loss the Bobcats fell to 4-10 on the season and will look to regroup Friday night in Spruce Grove against the Saints.
