The Sherwood Park Crusaders will wrap up their 3 game road stretch Wednesday night with a visit to Lloydminster to take on the Bobcats. It’s been 28 days since the Crusaders last had the taste of victory. A 5-2 win on October 15th in Calgary over the Mustangs that saw Nicholas Jones score 4 goals.
Jones is returning to the Crusaders lineup along with Andrew Taverner and Goaltender Tommy Nixon, who won Bronze at the World Junior A Challenge last week in Yartmouth Nova Scotia. Before heading out east, both Jones and Taverner led the Crusaders in scoring. Now sitting 2 and 3 behind Forward Sean MacTavish in scoring, the Crusaders will hopefully get a boost in the offense, as the Crusaders haven’t scored more than 3 goals in a game since that 5-2 win in October.
The Cru will be looking to avoid their 9th straight loss Wednesday as they are coming off a 3-0 shutout at the hands of the Grande Prairie Storm. A game that saw the Crusaders put 30 shots on Storm Goaltender Nick Kulmanovsky.
Sherwood Park hopes some recent history plays in their favor heading into Wednesday night’s game, as they have taken the first 2 meetings of the season against the Bobcats. Sherwood Park has also outscored Lloydminster 10-5 in the season series thus far.
The Bobcats are entering Wednesday’s clash on a bit of a losing streak as well, losing their last 2 games. Their most recent, a 3-2 overtime defeat in Drayton Valley against one of the league’s hottest teams.
Both teams will be eager for a victory as Lloydminster tries to keep pace with the Whitecourt Wolverines. Sherwood Park desperately in need of a victory as the have a 1 point lead for the 7th spot in the North, which is also the final playoff spot in the North Division.
Game time from the Centennial Civic Centre Arena in Lloydminster is 7:30 pm.
Sherwood Park will return to the Sherwood Park Arena this Friday and Saturday to take on the Spruce Grove Saints and the Fort McMurray Oil Barons.