The Crusaders had a successful start to their 2025-2026 regular season.
Sherwood Park would end up starting the regular season 2-0 with a 6-3 win over the Okotoks Oilers and a 6-2 win over their rivals, the Spruce Grove Saints, to finish off the weekend.
“It’s nice to get two wins in the opening weekend,” said General Manager and Head Coach Brennan Menard when asked how he thought the weekend went.
“I thought that our style of play and our work ethic has taken some strides. Game management has improved, which is good for a young group to be able to catch onto that stuff easily, but we need to stay hungry and motivated. It’s extremely important that we work even harder if we plan for any type of success, every weekend you play against really good teams”.
The guys in green started the weekend off by taking on the Okotoks Oilers on Friday. The BCHL’s first goal of the season would land on the stick of Captain Stevie Grumley, where he buried the powerplay goal to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead just over three minutes into the game. Assistant captain Max Ly would follow up just three minutes later on a great drive to the net, where he would shovel one five-hole on Oilers goaltender Ben Vatis to give the Crusaders the early 2-0 lead. The Oilers would not go unanswered, though, as Hunter Sawka would score on the man advantage to make it a one-goal game going into the middle frame.
Middle frame was all Oilers hockey even with being outshot 16-12 in the frame. The Oilers’ Holden Pajor and Teo Pisani would both pick up their first of the season to give Okotoks the 3-2 lead heading into the 3rd.
The third period was a dominant third frame to say the least. The Cru’ would score just 36 seconds in, thanks to a Danick St. Pierre backhand on the powerplay to tie the game up at three apiece. Sherwood Park was not done there as defenseman Jude Bray would tap home his first of the season off a beautiful passing play set up by Braeden O’Keefe. The Crusaders would continue their offensive dominance when Noah Keyes would tip in a shot from Dmitrii Nazarov to give the Fairbanks Alaska Native his first career junior A goal. Sherwood Park would cap off a strong third frame where they outshot the Oilers 21-5 when captain Stevie Grumley would score from 200 feet away on the empty net to give the guys in green the 6-3 win to start the season.
Game number two would see the Crusaders welcome their cross-town rivals, the Spruce Grove Saints, on Saturday. Much like the previous game, the Crusaders would draw first blood. Returnee from last year’s team, Kent Moors, would bury a lucky bounce sent from the point from defenseman A.J. Valenti to make it a 1-0 game just a minute and thirty-nine seconds in. Sherwood Park would then double-dip the chip just four minutes later when Joseph Sinclair would laser a perfect cross-crease feed to Danick St. Pierre, who would tap in his second of the weekend to put Sherwood up 2-0. Joseph Sinclair would then get himself on the score sheet when he would feather in a perfect back-door feed from Stevie Grumley to give the Crusaders the 3-0 lead. However, the Saints would not be shutout in the opening period as Brandon Funk would shovel in a loose puck in the crease to make it 3-1 going into the 2nd.
The second was mainly back and forth for the first half until Saints forward Felix Haibock would score just over the halfway point of the period to make it a one-goal game. With just seven seconds remaining in the period, Gleb Semenko would hammer home a one-time feed from Joseph Sinclair on the powerplay, to give the Russian his first career goal and the 4-2 lead for the Crusaders.
Just like in Friday’s game, the Crusaders dominated the final frame, outshooting the Saints 13-8. Sixteen minutes into the period, Quincy Supprien would bury his first of the season shorthanded to give the Crusaders the insurance marker to put them up 5-2. To cap off a dominant final frame, Kent Moors would bury his second of the game to give Sherwood the 6-2 Victory and to improve their record to 2-0.
The Crusaders welcome the 2-0 Brooks Bandits on Saturday, September 27th.
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