VOYAGEURS SPLIT HOME-AND-HOME WEEKEND WITH OOKS
LAC LA BICHE & EDMONTON – Doing the splits: impressive but potentially a bit painful. Eating a banana split: delicious but may cause a stomachache. Splitting a weekend series with a team you usually have trouble with: priceless.
The Portage College Voyageurs kept their early season momentum going November 7 and 8, beating the NAIT Ooks 3-2 on Friday night at the Bold Centre before losing 6-2 in the rematch in Edmonton 24 hours later. Tresor Wotton and Ethan Barron provided stellar goaltending as the Voyageurs gave the Ooks all they could handle over the course of the weekend and grabbing three valuable points in the standings.
On Friday night in front of an enthusiastic crowd, the home squad raced out to a 3-0 lead on goals by Jack Jarvis, Aidan Taylor, and Stavros Koutsantonis and then hung on for the win after getting into some penalty trouble. The Voyageurs were full marks for the victory, however, as Wotton made 39 saves and the players in front of him did whatever it took to cut off passes, block shots, and kill several man advantages.
"Our guys got in the shooting lanes and got enough of the pucks when they needed to and that helps our goalie out," said Assistant Coach Pierre Sparklingeyes after the game. "And our goalie made some big saves that also kept us in a good position to win tonight so we couldn't ask for anything else."
The second-year Voyageur coach was pleased to see the squad recover after successive penalties in the second period and not allow too many chances after the Ooks closed the deficit to 3-2.
"I think the guys played pretty well together and closed it out as a team which is good to see," he said.
On Saturday night, NAIT, desperate for their first win of the season, peppered Barron with 59 shots and turned a close 3-2 game midway through the third into a comfortable 6-2 win. Unfortunately for the Voyageurs, they lost more than just the game, with early-season stalwarts Jack Jarvis and Aidan Taylor leaving the game with injuries. Jarvis is not expected back in the lineup until the new year at the earliest.
Despite the setback, the Voyageurs are off to one of their better starts in recent memory. In fact, at 3-3 (with an extra point for an overtime loss), they currently sit third, their highest position at this point in the season in many years. With a tough pair of road games coming up this weekend against the currently undefeated and three-time-defending champion Red Deer Polytechnic Wolves, Sparklingeyes knows that staying out of the sin bin will be key for his squad.
"When we're playing our game and making sure that we stick to the things that make us good five on five…I don't think there's too many teams that can keep up with that," he said.
Players of the Game
Friday, Nov. 7:
- NAIT: #44 Jackson Hassman
- Portage: #31 Tresor Wotton
