PHOTO: Chad Goddard
Ryan De Kok stole the show on Saturday night as the 20-year-old golatender turned aside 37 of the 38 shots thrown his way as the Spruce Grove Saints collected their first win in Sherwood Park this season as they earned a 2-1 victory at Randy Rosen Rink.
The Crusaders were first to find the scoresheet in the game’s opening period courtesy of defender Conner Broadhead as he received a pass from the right side and walked into the left face-off circle and wired a shot over the shoulders of De Kok to give the Crusaders a 1-0 advantage at the 4:30 mark of the opening period.
Just before the first period was out, Ben Buckley pushed the Saints back to even as his shot low to the ice found room on the glove side of Filip Vavro in the Sherwood Park net to collect his 5th goal of the season and his fourth in the last seven games to push the game to a 1-1 tie with just nine seconds remaining in the 1st period.
Spruce Grove jumped out to their first lead of the hockey game as Michael Azzarone potted the eventual game winning tally at 7:52 of the middle frame as he earned goals in consecutive games. Kohyn Pipke held a Crusader clearing attempt in at the midpoint before pushing a pass to the top of the left face-off circle as Azzarone sent a bullet of a shot over the right shoulder of Vavro for his 5th marker of the season and pushed the Saints to a one-goal lead.
De Kok was terrific all night and had to be immediately after the goal as he turned aside a breakaway opportunity from Cooper Sharp moments after the Saints took the lead, one of his 11 second period stops before continuing that trend in the third period, making another huge breakaway save on Danick St-Pierre with his left pad that kept the Saints lead at a goal.
With the net empty, the Crusaders pressed but could not push anything past the Spruce Grove netminder, who turned aside 37 of the 38 shots thrown his way in his 8th win of the season while Filip Vavro made saves on 21 of the 23 shots he faced in his 2nd loss of the season.
The Saints are back in action on Friday night as they make their first trip to Brooks this season and will battle the Bandits for the second time all year. Puck drop from Centennial Regional Arena is slated for 7:00 PM with the game broadcasted live on the Saints Radio Network as well as streamed online on FloHockey.
