RECAP ⎸ A Weekend of Splitsville

Home, sweet home. The Crusaders split the final road trip of 2024, returning to Alberta for a quartet of games before the Christmas break. Liam Horrobin recaps for SPCrusaders . com! 

Game 25 @ Penticton Vees

The Sherwood Park Crusaders made their last road trip across the provincial border last weekend, starting with a stop in Penticton to face the Vees. The game didn’t begin as planned for the Crusaders finding themselves down 2-1 after the first period. Alexander Dimitriadis scored the Crusaders lone goal which was his first goal since being traded to Sherwood Park. The Crusaders continued to push but unfortunately, the Vees extended their lead before Sherwood Park could find a tying goal. John Alex Banks did make it 3-2 with his third of the season but there was no third making it a 3-2 final.

Game 26 @ West Kelowna Warriors

The road trip continued into Saturday with a stop in West Kelowna. The Crusaders and Warriors faced off earlier in the season with West Kelowna coming out on top 6-3 in Sherwood Park. This time around, the scoreline was the same but now in the Crusaders favour. The two teams exchanged goals in the first ten minutes of the opening period; however, the Cru went on to score three unanswered goals and never looked back. Jeremy Loranger, John Alex Banks, Nico Beaudoin (2), and Malachi McKinnon (2) all contributed goals in the Crusaders 6-3 win.

Notes:
  • The Crusaders acquired Lucas Brennan early last week from the Vernon Vipers. Brennan is a Bemidji State University commit and joins the Crusaders with 172 games of junior experience.
  • The BCHL announced their top prospect rosters yesterday and the Crusaders had seven players named to the event, which was the most in the league. Jeremy Loranger, Kale Dach, Malachi McKinnon, Poul Andersen, Christian Choudu, Jude Bray, and John Alex Banks will all take part in the event.
  • Jeremy Loranger remains on top of the BCHL scoring leaderboard with 41 points (15 goals, 26 assists) in 26 games, which also makes him the highest-scoring rookie.
Coming Up:

The Crusaders return to Sherwood Park this weekend to face the Brooks Bandits and Okotoks Oilers. Tickets for those games can be purchased at tickets.sherwoodparkcrusaders.ca.