Nunes Sports and Stuff

  The Spruce Grove Saints, after starting the season with two wins, have been struggling this season. Heading into last weekends games the Club shuffled deck in net by acquiring goaltender Alexander Levshyn from the WHL Prince George Cougars. Heading into this weekends threesome of games, the Saints added another former Cougar in defenseman Kaeson Fisher. Fisher drew into the lineup at the expense of Micheal Zuyev. Fisher and Levshyn spent the entire first minute of the game together as the Cranbrook Bucks collected five (5!) shots. The Saints had the first powerplay of the game. Patrick Woods was elevated to powerplay one and was charged with an intentional offside. Defenseman Brett Barnes with the best scoring opportunity but he promptly "had" to take a penalty to break up a Bucks breakout with eleven seconds to go in the man advantage.  Woods was in Junior Podein's spot on a line with Alexy Lachaine and Felix Haibock. Woods was setup by Haibock for a good scoring oppor...

After a pair of losses at the showcase the Spruce Grove Saints filled their open roster spot, originally presumed to be for forward Luke Norcross, on a new goaltender. Welcome Alexander Levshyn, most recently of the Prince George Cougars of the WHL. Levshyn made three saves on the Saints first penalty kill of the game. Alexy Lachaine carries the puck up the ice with numbers on the Bulldogs and scores to tie the game. This is the first shorthanded goal of the season for the Saints. The Saints first powerplay was coming out of the media break in the second period, a 4-minute opportunity. Three minutes of it was frustration watching them miss the net and attempt 20-foot drop passes. Then Junior Podein gets set up and robbed. Play continues and Felix Haibock scores from near the blueline. 33 seconds later, Owen Leckelt dumps the puck in. The Bulldogs goalie behind the net with the puck gets poke-checked by Scott Sandilands. Leckelt collects the puck and deposits it into the net to tie the ...

Per the Cowichan Announcer, the Capitals have not won a third period all season giving up half of their goals against in the final frame while only collecting three of their own. Cowichan scored three goals in the final 2:34 to defeat Spruce Grove 6-4. This was a game the Saints led 3-0 after one period. Felix Haibock scored a natural hat-trick over the course of 6:48 in the opening frame. Watching the broadcast, it listed the shots at 7-6 Spruce.  If felt like Saints starting netminder Colten Scott was much busier than that as each save was difficult. Cowichan ended the period with momentum which the intermission did not disrupt. Scott and his Saints penalty killers all look bamboozled by a Capitals pass that somehow ended up bringing them within one at 3-2. Haibock, presumably thinking he could swing the momentum back into the Saints corner, got into a fight. 26 seconds later the Capitals tied the game. The Saints would be without their top scorer another 14 minutes meanwhile the...

Fresh off the surprise scratch on Saturday, Adam Perron is no longer listed as a Spruce Grove Saint heading into the BCHL Showcase. Max Finley with his 105 WHL games of experience will being joining the roster. As for Monday night Patrick Woods drew back in for Richard Krnac.  Unfortunately Woods would only play just over one period. Woods with the hit from behind penalty which created a donnybrook. Woods ejected from the game with the 5-minute major. Was the hit dirty? In the sense it was from behind as there was no follow through into the boards. If the mission is to take these kind of hits out of hockey, it is, then it was the right call. At the midway of the major, Felix Haibock and Junior Podein broke out on a 2-on-2 drawing a Bulldogs penalty. 4-on-4 Gabriel Kenny springs Haibock for a breakaway but he missed the net then Jacob Hamel with a nice end-to-end rush.  With over 20 saves already to his credit, a mere eight seconds after the major expired, the Bulldogs finally...

Brett Barnes, as he does, takes a minor penalty but is saved by the embellishment of the takedown also being called. The extra room on the ice was exactly what rookie Lucas Achim needed to take the puck from the boards to the middle and then into the back of the net! Down 2-1, now with some momentum, Alexy Lachaine takes an offensive zone penalty with a minute'ish remaining in the opening period. This paragraph actually neatly sums up the Saints season thus far. Then the second period turns into one of the Saints most dominant periods of hockey all season by outshooting Victoria 14-5 and outscoring the Grizzlies 2-0. Looking back, the only other period that was more dominant was the second period of the home opener in which they outscored Sherwood 2-0 and outshot the Crusaders 17-5. 8:12 into the final frame, the Grizzlies carrying the play, Saints rookie Owen Cronan skates into a Grizzlies player high stick. Is it a penalty? Technically yes, the Grizzlies player stick should not h...

" You know how you say that the speedbumps in your neighborhood could dislodge a kidney stone? I wonder if it's the same for gallstones ". That's the text I woke up to Wednesday morning from my youngest (22 years old) about twelve hours before their gallbladder was removed. That was kind of how it felt watching the Spruce Grove Saints play the Powell River Kings Friday night at Thompson Family Arena.  The Kings caused pain in every way on "Country Night" scoring on two of three of their powerplays, winning the one fight in the game and jumping out to a five goal lead en route to taking out the Saints 5-2. Leading into the game the Saints traded 5'10" defenseman Kohyn Pipke to Blackfalds for 6'3" defenseman Jeppe Bertram and the rights to forward Luke Norcross. Norcross played last night for his current team the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL. The Saints non-rostered defenseman Brodie Kay to make the numbers work so technically their rost...