Sherwood Park hit a bump in the road over the weekend, dropping back-to-back games with a 4–1 loss to the Blackfalds Bulldogs on Friday, followed by a 5–2 defeat at the hands of the West Kelowna Warriors on Saturday.
Friday night saw the Crusaders look to carry the momentum of a four-game winning streak into Blackfalds, but the Bulldogs had other plans. Army-commit Thomas Neu opened the scoring just under two minutes into the first period, notching his 16th of the season to give the Bulldogs an early 1–0 lead.
Neu struck again early in the second, burying his second of the game just two minutes into the frame to double the lead. The period remained scoreless until the three-and-a-half-minute mark, when Neu completed the hat trick, finishing a chance from the doorstep to put Blackfalds firmly in control at 3–0.
Sherwood Park finally broke through in the third on the power play. Braeden O’Keefe cut to the slot and beat Bulldogs netminder Carson Mertz glove side to pull the Crusaders within two with ten minutes remaining. Any hopes of a late comeback were sealed in the final moments, however, as Nikita Meshcheryakov hit the empty net to secure the 4–1 Bulldogs win, snapping Sherwood Park’s four-game streak.
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Saturday night presented another tough test as the Crusaders squared off against the top-seeded West Kelowna Warriors. Much like Friday, Sherwood Park found themselves chasing early, as Ruslan Jamaldinov scored just 49 seconds into the game on West Kelowna’s first shot. Warriors captain Liam Nilsson added another late in the period, giving the guests a 2–0 edge heading into the second.
The Crusaders pushed back in the middle frame. Local product Rockston Row-Chow slipped one past Warriors goaltender Angelo Zol just 90 seconds into the period to cut the deficit in half. Nine minutes later, Cooper Sharp tied the game with his 6th of the season to square the game up 2-2. Just 20 seconds later West K would find the back of the net again as Caden Kemkaran-Humble would score short-handed to put the Warriors back up 3-2. Noah Garthe would then be awarded a penalty shot just three minutes later and he would bury his 10th on the season to put the Warriors back up by two, 4-2.
Kelowna would end up re-gaining their three goal lead in the third as Blake Burke would get his fourth on the powerplay to give the Warriors the eventual 5-2 win.
The Crusaders look to shake off the two game losing streak as they welcome the Vernon Vipers on Friday, while also hosting their Cocktail With The Cru event on Saturday, tickets for both events can be found here.
