It has been March Madness in the AJHL north division playoffs this year and it seems only fitting that the Spruce Grove Saints and Sherwood Park Crusaders will meet up for game seven tonight in Spruce Grove.
This series has been very interesting to say the least.
The Crusaders stunned the Spruce Grove Saints, on the back of outstanding goaltending from Tommy Nixon they would end up winning games one and two at the Grant Fuhr Arena.
The Saints would lose more than just the first two games of the series, they would also lose their starting goaltender Kenny Cameron to injury.
With their backs against the wall the Saints came out hard in game three and got back into the series with a 3-2 win.
Game Four the Saints would continue to dominate early and hang on for a win to tie the series at 2-2.
Tanner McCorriston would be the goalie on record for the game two loss as well as the game three and four wins.
It was back to Spruce Grove for game five and no way that the Saints would lose a third straight game at home right?
Well not so fast, the Crusaders and Saints would go back and forth but nothing was solved after 60 minutes and for the second time in the series it was off to overtime.
Midway through the first overtime period the Saints looked like they had gotten the first home win of the series as the puck ended up in the net.
The Saints and their fans would celebrate and the Saints headed off to their dressing room thinking they had a 3-2 series lead.
Not so fast, the refs would gather, talk things over and determine that the puck went through the side of the net and overtime would continue.
It was off to double overtime where Nicholas Jones would score at the 11:58 mark to give the Crusaders a 3-2 series lead.
With a chance to put pull off the ultimate upset on home ice the Sherwood Park Crusaders came out strong and would take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Saints though would answer with three goals in less than five minutes to take a 3-1 lead.
Both teams would exchange a pair of goals the rest of the way and the Saints would force game seven with a 5-3 win.
The playoffs are supposed to be all about home ice advantage but this series has been anything but as the road team has won all six games.
So what will happen in game seven, well we will find out later tonight.
Story by Chris Colwell