photo via Target Photography
The Sherwood Park Crusaders host the Okotoks Oilers tonight at the Sherwood Park Arena.
The Cru remain on top of the AJHL North, boasting a record of 26-3-0, at the other end of the rink the Crusaders have some stiff competition with the Oilers. They’re having a pretty good season, currently second in the AJHL South at 26-4-2.
The Sherwood Park Crusaders look to close off an undefeated month of November that has led them to a 24-2-0 record to take sole possession of the number one spot in the North Division with 48 points. Tonight’s game will be Crusaders fan’s first chance to take a look at the team’s new acquisition of Jacob Kendall, who suits up for his first home game at Sherwood Park Arena against his former club. Kendall comes to the Crusaders with 15 goals and 23 points in 25 games in his overage season. The forward brings another scoring threat to the line-up along with a veteran presence and added strength.
When asked to describe his game in an interview with Tyler Yaremchuk on Inside the Cru, Kendall stated, “I like to play in the corners, play a hard style of game, be hard to play against. That’s what I pride myself on.” Kendall comes into this game on the second line for the Crusaders, on the left side of Ty Mueller and Jarred White.
The Kodiaks come into this game hungry for two points after taking a shootout loss to the Okotoks Oilers earlier this week. The club has stayed at a steady pace throughout the season, putting up a respectable 11-12-3 record that has them slotted in the middle of the pack in the South division. They aren’t a team the juggernaut Crusaders should take lightly though. The Kodiaks have the offensive weapons to steal a game on any given night, including former Crusader Cody Laskosky, who has had himself an unbelievable season so far in Camrose putting up 34 points in just 24 games.
Here’s how things went down:
Last season was historic for the Sherwood Park Crusaders. Both on and off the ice, they broke records and saw unprecedented levels of success and now, with the 2019/20 season just days away, the club will be looking to build on the positive momentum that they’ve created over the last two years.
While they lost key pieces over the offseason like buy prednisolone 5mg for dogs in uk Matt Berlin (University of Alberta), Lamictal sale no prescription Garrett Clegg (Robert Morris University), Zach Kaiser (the University of Massachusetts Lowell) and Tyler Jette (Lakehead University), but the bulk of their young core remains in-tact and will be who they lean on throughout the season.
Michael Benning (University of Denver) seemingly got better every single time I watched him last season. When I saw him in last seasons intrasquad game, he looked like an undersized yet mobile defenseman who has a plethora of offensive tools at his disposal, but he clearly needed to work on his ability to play in his own end and make smarter bets in the neutral zone. By the end of the season, I hardly hesitate to say he was their best defenseman.
Arjun Atwal has spent parts of the last three seasons with the Crusaders but last season was the first time he appeared in over 40 games with the club. Through 109 career AJHL games he’s posted 126 points, and this year, I expect him to be well over the point per game mark. After being around the team a little bit during training camp, it’s clear that Atwal is the heartbeat of this club. His leadership will be a valuable asset this season. He was the team’s MVP in 2018/19, and now I expect him to make a push to be the MVP of the entire AJHL.
Carter Savoie (University of Denver) was probably their most dynamic offensive force last season. In his rookie season, he finished 5th in league scoring. The only other ‘02 born player in the top 100 was his teammate Benning. His combination of size and skill allowed him to diversify his attack and now that he’s a year older and a little bit more physically mature, I expect him to shatter the numbers he posted last season, which is crazy to say. I honestly don’t know what this player’s ceiling is for the upcoming season; he’s that talented.
It was a hell of a summer for Carter Gylander (Colgate University), who was drafted in the seventh round of the NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings back in June and then went on the road to Russia with Team AJHL for the JCWC. Last year, he was the elite backup to Berlin, playing in 22 games and posting a GAA of 2.43 to go along with a save percentage of 0.915. The expectation is that he will play close to 40 games this season and given his natural physical abilities, I expect he’ll be able to handle it.
William Zapernick (University of Alabama-Huntsville) was also in Russia for the JCWC and is coming off a tremendous2018/19 campaign that saw him almost double his point production from the prior season. When you look at this team on paper, names like Benning, Savoie, and Atwal jump off the page, but Zapernick is just as valuable to this team. He plays a responsible game, which is very important, and can not just compliment the team’s other skill players, but drive them.
They have a handful of very good young players as well, highlighted by Ty Mueller (University of Nebraska-Omaha) who comes to the Cru after being a point per game player with the Airdrie Bisons Midget AAA program last season. Vincent Scott is another new recruit who I think will be a regular contributor earlier than expected.
Daron Cyr, Matt Shatsky, Nicholas Magis, Kevin Minnoch, Kaden Bryant, and Ryley Morgan are the other rookies who were with the club throughout training camp.
Zafir Rawji and Tanner Fincaryk are both back this season and have looked very good at moments throughout the preseason, but the biggest surprise has been defenseman Connor Hart who has seemingly found another offensive gear scoring six goals during the three-game schedule. He has an absolute rocket of a shot, and if he’s on the team, I would love to see him get some heavy powerplay minutes.
The high-end talent is there, but their depth will also be a massive asset. 19-year-olds Jacob Franczak and Brennan McDonnell along with 20-year-old veterans Reid Irwin (University of Denver), Max Wutzke and Jarred White will provide what the team is hoping is a high-end layer of depth that will help make them a championship contender this season.
And that’s the goal for this club, to win an AJHL Championship this season. It sounds harsh, but in my opinion, their window to win is clearly this upcoming season and anything short of winning their final game of the season, shouldn’t be viewed as a success. When you look at the talent, they have in every part of the lineup and the depth players they’ve brought in, winning it all is an attainable goal.
Last season was record-setting for a number of seasons and this year, the Crusaders will look to make even more history and hoist the Inter Pipeline Cup for the first time in franchise history.
How often does a team with “sleeper potential” actually live up to, let alone exceed expectations?
Well, if you’re struggling to come up with an answer, try on the 2018-19 Sherwood Park Crusaders for size.
Picked by few in the offseason to win the Viterra North Division, the Crusaders stumbled out of the starting blocks by dropping back-to-back games to the Drayton Valley Thunder on opening weekend. From there, they shut the lights out on the AJHL, powering through to the best regular season in franchise history at 44-14-2 by beating Grand Prairie in the final game.
I asked Crusaders general manager Kyle Chase if he thought this was possible back in September.
“Not in the infancy, no,” Chase said. “The more we started playing and the more we started winning one-goal hockey games, we thought ‘hey, we’ve got something special here’.”
So how did this all come to be? Let’s explore that.
Did you expect this? Nationally ranked for the better part of the last two months? How about battling for first place in the Viterra North Division? Or 21 wins through the first 29 games?
Even the most optimistic of Crusaders fans likely couldn’t have predicted this start to the season for the Cru.
“We weren’t sure how all the pieces were going to come together,” head coach Adam Manah said. “Luckily for us, things have come together nicely in terms of the western league pieces we’ve got back and the additions we’ve been able to make.”
You’d have to go as far back as 2002-03, the Nick Holden days, to find a time the Crusaders were as high as fifth in the CJHL national rankings…so what’s different about this group?