The Crusaders continued their hot streak into this early hockey season.
Over the weekend Sherwood Park welcomed their BCHL rival the Brooks Bandits for a rematch of last year’s Interior Conference Semi-final.
“Solid Game over all” answered General Manager and Head Coach Brennan Menard when asked about his teams performance over the weekend.
“(We) took steps in the right direction in a many different areas of the game, so I’m happy about that”
The Crusaders would kick things off just over a minute into the game when Braeden O’Keefe, doing his best shooter McGavin impression, would tee one up to bury his first of the season past Brooks netminder Zach Zaharah to give the Crusaders the early 1-0 lead. Just before the halfway point of the first, Bandit’s forward Liam Fitzpatrick would score off a nice powerplay feed from Jack Rosensteel, to put the game in a 1-1 deadlock. Then in the fading seconds of this opening frame Tommy Coccaro would find the back of the net after putting home a rebound sent in my by Edmonton-native Brec Christenson to re-gain the lead for the Guys In Green.
The Bandits would tie up the game however, when Brook’s forward Alexie Zhukov would bury the powerplay marker eight minutes into the middle frame to level the game out at two a piece.
Coming into the third the Crusaders would waste no time getting funky when Joseph “Scar-face” Sinclair would capitalize on a great centering feed thrown on by Braeden O’Keefe to put the Crusaders back up 3-2 just 60 seconds into the final frame. Just five minutes later the Captain Stevie Grumley would put in his team-leading third goal of the season to give Sherwood Park their largest lead of the game 4-2. Just a couple minutes later the Russian Rocket, Gleb Semenko, just like some friends measuring to see whos taller, would go back to back on the man-advantage to give the Crusaders a dominant 6-2 lead. The old saying goes “when it rains, it pours” and oh boy did the Bandits get flooded out as Tommy Coccaro in the late stages of the game would shovel home a beautiful individual effort on the penalty kill to give the Crusaders their league leading second short-handed goal of the season and the 7-2 lead. Brooks would eventually find the back of the net as Kamyl Chemrouk would get the 2-1 tap in to cap off a dominate Crusaders period and finish the game with a 7-3 score.
“What I am most happiest about is our third period” Brennan added on.
“I am excited about our ability to elevate our play, let the game come to us. Our second (period) improved in the Brooks game, better than they were in the first two prior games, but there is still more to go. As far as they way we handled ourselves in the third, (it’s) something that I’m pretty proud of the group for.”
With this win the Crusaders improve their record to 3-0 joining the Cowichan Valley Capitals, Trail Smoke Eaters and the Coquitlam Express as the only undefeated teams remaining this season. The Crusaders impressive 3-0 start is the first time since the 2023-24 season that they started undefeated, that same season was also the first year the Brennan Menard took over as the bench boss.
The Crusaders carry this momentum into next weekend where they get their first real taste of B.C hockey when they take on the 1-2-1 Vernon Vipers on Friday and Saturday.
Catch all the action on Flohockey.tv or catch the game livestreamed at Game on Sports Bar.
