After a rollercoaster of a November, the Sherwood Park Crusaders have begun to truly find their footing.
Friday’s matchup against the Bonnyville Pontiacs took place in Vermilion, Alberta, the home of coach Jeff Woywitka. After a close first period, Bruce MacGregor opened the scoring with just under four minutes to play in the opening frame. Back to back goals in the second from Austin Saint and Trey Funk gave the Pontiacs the lead, but Ty Hurley tied the game again with his first AJHL goal. Bode Hagan gave the Cru a 3-2 lead on the powerplay and Mitchell Joss iced it with an empty netter to take the 4-2 victory.
Saturday was a similar story, hosting the Grande Prairie Storm. Goals were traded throughout the first, two a piece, then Cam Vassos broke the deadlock with about six minutes left in the second. Carter Chorney showed off some late period heroics to tie the game at three, but the Storm weren’t done. Alex Bernauer gave the Storm a 3-2 lead, but Brett Ursulak tallied one two minutes later to knot things back up at four. The rest of regulation solved nothing, and Tyler Bates ripped home the game winning goal just 38 seconds onto overtime.
Sherwood Park now hosts the Lloydminster Bobcats before heading out on a three game road trip.