Chris Clegg
South Peace News
It was well worth the wait, albeit far too long.
Senior hockey returned to the High Prairie Sports Palace Oct. 26 for the first regular season game in 2,092 days with a bang as the defending league champion Spirit River Rangers defeated the Regals 3-1 in a bitterly fought and highly entertaining contest.
It was the only thing that went wrong for the Regals on a near-perfect night.
Around 800 fans jammed into the Sports Palace for the largest regular season crowd in recent memory (the exception being Horse Lake nearly 20 years ago, or the early games versus the Lakeland Eagles). Fans were treated to a whiz-bang of a game with multiple bone crushing hits and exciting action.
“The boys had a lot of nerves,” says head coach Trent Meyaard.
And why not? A near capacity crowd came eager to see what the newest version of the team had to offer.
They were not disappointed.
The Rangers carried most of the play in the first period and were rewarded with a goal from Brandon Bogdanek just before the midway point. Dustin Sather’s power play goal with 1:32 left sent the visitors to the dressing room with a well-deserved 2-0 lead.
The second period, the Regals began to find their stride. Larry Yellowknee closed the gap to 2-1 with a perfect blast past goaltender Tyler Vant Erve just past the seven-minute mark.
For much of the period the Regals stymied the defending champs. The Regals had their chances but had little puck luck around the net. Kenten Helgeson restored the Rangers’ two-goal lead with 3:47 left in the period despite the Regals carrying the play.
“I felt once we got going, we competed,” says Meyaard.
The Rangers threw everything they had at the Regals by bringing their usual physical style of play to town, but the Regals did not back down.
The scoreless third period saw the Regals and Rangers manage only six shots each. The Regals did appear to tire as the game wore on.
“I felt like we did lose some gas in the third period,” says Meyaard.
“I felt like we almost dominated the second, but with this being our first game and many first games for a lot of these players in over five years, the speed and intensity got the best of us.
“But I felt we weren’t out of place,” he adds.
Perhaps the biggest difference in the game was the Regals were blanked on five power play chances. With a game so close, even one power play goal could have made a huge difference.
“I felt we had some good looks considering we’ve only practiced it for a couple of times and with any luck, we bury a couple,” says Meyaard.
Missing Jacob Anderson with a broken hand, who is expected to be one of the team’s top scorers, did not help.
Another of many bright spots for the Regals on this night was the play of goaltender Keygan Okemow, who made several sharp saves to keep the Regals in the game.
“Okemow was excellent as I expected,” says Meyaard.
“He is a gamer and will come to compete every single night.”
Meyaard does not see the sparse schedule to start the season (the Regals play at Valleyview Nov. 1 and are back home to face the Falher Pirates on Nov. 7) as a deterrent.
“The players are super-interested, there’s not much to demotivate after what they seen last night,” he says.
“All the players know we can compete with anybody in this league as long as we stay disciplined and detailed to our system and work together, good things will prevail.”
Meyaard cannot thank the fans enough for their support.
“I would like to make a huge shoutout to the community and surrounding reserves for making last night a spectacular evening . . . with this fan support special things are going to happen.”
