Sherwood Park, AB: The Sherwood Park Crusaders returned to the ice on Monday night after not playing for almost a week. The Bonnyville Pontiacs were the opponent who was heading into the Sherwood Park Arena off the back of a 3-0 loss to the Canmore Eagles on Saturday night.
Brett Wieschorster (University of Vermont) got the scoring started for the Crusaders at the eight minute mark of the first period. Blake Sydlowski picked up the primary assist and Brett Hyland – who was making his AJHL debut – got the secondary helper for this first AJHL point. However, the Pontiacs responded 10 seconds later from Marc-Antoine Benoit.
After being tied after 20 minutes, the Crusaders came out flying to start the second and restored their lead under a minute into the frame. Carter Savoie (University of Denver) found Will Zapernick (University of Alabama-Huntsville) on the backdoor who beat Easton Hesse for his 15th goal of the season. Bonnyville equalized right after the midway point of the period from Bruce MacGregor to make it 2-2.
Sherwood Park contained Bonnyville in the third period allowing on three shots against the final frame. They fired 14 shots on Hesse in the Pontiacs goal, but it wasn’t until the first minute of play that they were able to beat him. Arjun Atwal found Jarred White on the left wing who then went bursting in on Hesse and beat him for his 13th goal of the season. The Pontiacs pulled Hesse shortly after but the Crusaders were able to hold on and defeat them 3-2 to move to 21-2-0 on the year.
Next up, the Crusaders hit the road for a pair of games against the Grande Prairie Storm and Whitecourt Wolverines. First up will be the Storm on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and then the Wolverines on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Both games can be watched live at Average Joe’s Sports Bar in Sherwood Park.