Spruce Grove Saints (3-3) vs. Dauphin Kings (4-2)
The RBC Cup will not be coming back to Alberta after the Saints couldn’t hold a 3-1 third period lead and lost 4-3 to the Dauphin Kings on Sunday afternoon.
The Saints opened the scoring just 2:39 into the opening period as Tristan Sieben (assist to Tyler Busch) drove down the left side and fired a shot five hole on Kings’ goaltender Jordan Piccolino.
Dauphin didn’t wait long to respond as Dylan Butler (assists to Brent Wold and Justin Valentino) put a shot that bounced off the post and then off Saints’ goaltender Tanner McCorriston at 4:17.
In the late stages of the opening period Saints` forward Cameron Hughes got a breakaway but put the puck off the post and was pushed into goaltender Jordan Piccolino. Piccolino struggled to put weight on his left leg and left the game. On would come 17 year old Troy Martyniuk and the game would become a battle of the backups.
Shots were even at 11 in the first period.
Spruce Grove would score the lone goal of the second period. Corey Chorneyko (assist to Colton Leiter) fired a shot from the point that found a way through Martyniuk at 19:22 to make it 2-1 Saints after two periods.
Shots favored the Kings 11-8 in the second period and 22-19 after two.
Less then a minute into the third period (57 seconds) the Saints added to their lead as Nathan Smith (assists to Dylan Hollman and Cameron Hughes) pounced on a rebound and fired the puck past Martyniuk to make it 3-1.
While shorthanded the Kings were able to cut into Spruce Groves lead as Aubrey Chapman (assist to Chandler Irvin) wired a shot past McCorriston at 3:19.
Dauphin would keep on coming midway through the period Hudson Morrison (assists to Aubrey Chapman and Tyler Garrioch) put a shot towards the net and it bounced off a skate and into the net behind McCorriston to tie the game 3-3 at 7:22.
Less than two minutes later Chandler Irvin (assists to Dylan Butler and Justin Valentino) finished off a two on one and beat McCorriston to give Dauphin a 4-3 lead at 9:08.
The Saints would get their opportunities in the late stages of the period but were unable to find a way to tie the game.
Shots favored the Saints 11-5 in the third period and 35-24 in the hockey game.
Story by Chris Colwell
