Phantom disallowed goal plus two bad turnovers equals Spruce Grove Saints loss

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The long title is the concise summary of the Halloween night 3-2 loss for the Spruce Grove Saints. 

The Saints "opened" the scoring 2:16 into the second period when London Taylor led a 3-on-1 down the ice, give-and-go pass with Jacob Hamel, shot saved, rebound buried! After a lengthy review, it was deemed Cash Lanigan interfered with the Vipers goaltender. After personally rewatching the video a handful of times my presumption is the refs feel Lanigan, despite being tied up well by the Vipers defender, mindfully knocked the stick out of the goalies hand. Suppose Lanigan should take that as a compliment cause the hand-eye coordination to pull that off is top tier.

The Saints opened the scoring for real on the powerplay just over four minutes later. A broken up zone entry turned into a beautiful passing play between Patrick Woods, Junior Podein and Felix Haibock. The powerplay goal by Haibock ties him for the lead in this category. 

New Saints defender Jackson Arango took a textbook retaliation crosschecking penalty in the second period. Later in the period, Arango was the recipient of textbook retaliation spear directly in front of the referee. The reaction of every Saints player and Saints fan helped the referees review the play and assess a double minor. Unfortunately the Saints could not capitalize on the powerplay. 

12:25 into the third period, after some sustained Vipers pressure, the Saints defenseman slipped while shooting the puck out on a clearing attempt. This ended up being a perfect setup pass to the Vipers player and a tie game. 

With Vernon now ahead 2-1, their forecheck overwhelmed Hamel down low extending their lead to 3-1. That's three goals in a span of 5:13.

With Alexander Levshyn pulled for the extra attacker, Haibock scored his second of the game. His 14th of the season moves him into second place in the BCHL. Unfortunately second place is where the Saints finished in this game.


The Saints do not return to the Thompson Family Arena until final weekend of November. Their only Alberta game is Friday November 13th in Sherwood Park. The Saints and Crusaders are both trying to stay out of the division basement so that game is an early season "must win".

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