Dziver, McCann lead SAHA in winning weekend

By JAMES TUBB on November 16, 2022.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

The South Alberta Men’s Hockey team battled their way to a perfect weekend.

After shutting out Winnipeg’s RINK Hockey Academy 4-0 on Saturday, the U18 team came back late Sunday morning to beat OHA Edmonton 4-2. SAHA trailed Edmonton 2-0 with 4:16 left in the game before forward Kadon McCann scored two power play goals in a span of 24 seconds to tie the game.

A short 40 seconds after McCann tied the game, Elias Eisenbarth scored to give SAHA the lead, and Noah Dziver added one more less than a minute later as an insurance marker. Ethan McCallum made 22 saves in the win.

Head coach Brayden Desjardins tagged assistant coach Torrin White and the power play for the win Sunday.

“Credit to Torrin’s power play units executing like that, sometimes that’s what skill does, but our structure has to be there before skill can take over,” Desjardins said. “It’s good resiliency by the group, we’re tight-knit, we don’t panic. It’s a sign of a mature team when sometimes you don’t have your A game and you’re able to find ways to win. It’s a really good sign and I’m excited to see some of that.”

In Saturday’s 20-save shutout win by Zach Zahara, defenceman Matthew Paranych scored first for SAHA and Dziver found the back of the net three minutes later. Just like Sunday, McCann scored two goals in the third period while they were heading toward their third straight win.

McCann credited his teammates for his four-goal weekend.

“We have a good group of guys in the room that are very positive and always cheer for each other,” McCann said. “It’s great to be around that mentality, and hopefully we can keep this winning streak going.”

In 13 games with SAHA this season the Cochrane product has nine goals and 15 points, putting him third in team scoring. Desjardins says McCann makes his coaching job easy and knows the 15-year-old is always willing to do whatever the team needs to be successful.

“He’s an unreal person and he’s super thankful for everything he gets. Obviously he’s starting to show up on the score sheet but his process has been unreal all year,” Desjardins said. “He’s going past guys just because of how hard he works and how much he loves the game.

“I don’t know if you’ll ever see him without a smile on his face when he’s at the rink. When guys love the game like that, it’s not surprising they’re doing as well as they are.”

The 6-foot-3 forward scored both his goals Sunday around the crease, an area he can dominate due to his size and strength. And according to him, it’s because of his teammates.

“It’s pretty easy to dominate when you have two great passers Viz (Dvizer) and Gav (Gavin McKenna) and Matty P (Matt Paranych) on top,” McCann said. “It’s pretty easy just to stand there and just try to get a stick on everything.”

With Dziver’s four points on the weekend, the 17-year-old’s 16 goals and 25 points trails only McKenna’s 26 in team scoring. Dziver is tied for third in league scoring and says he’s been pushing himself since the start of the season to be his best.

“I’m a max age in this league, so I’m really pushing myself to be the best I can this year,” Dziver said. “I’m looking forward to going somewhere in junior next year, so I’m just pushing myself to try and hammer that home.”

He says he had offers to play elsewhere in the CSSHL this season but would not entertain playing anywhere else and with anyone else.

“I see us going so far this year. The tightness of the group is unreal, after SAHA won the Mac’s last year, that’s a huge accomplishment, and I see us doing it again,” Dziver said. “If we can really dial it on our level systems here and buy into the game, we’ll go pretty far this year.”

Desjardins says Dziver scores wherever he plays and isn’t surprised to see him have the success he has so far.

“Just see how patient he is, how calm he is on the ice, but it comes with his process and he’s another guy who just loves the game, he loves to be at the rink,” Desjardins said. “To find a way to be good at 10 a.m. on Sunday speaks volumes about how much it means to him to be here and to be a hockey player. I’m sure he’s another one we’ll see down the road in a pretty good league somewhere, probably playing pro hockey.”

Dziver and the SAHA men’s team (9-3-0-1) have an off week with their next game not coming until Nov. 25.

The SAHA women’s team was on the road over the weekend and won three out of four games. They beat RHA Winnipeg Thursday night 4-0 and St. Mary’s Academy 3-2 on Friday.

Their only loss came on Saturday, a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Edge School. Téa Pearce scored their only goal and Devyn Amundson made 33 saves. On Sunday in a rematch with RHA Winnipeg, SAHA was backstopped by a 28-save shutout from Maddy Ferguson.

Pearce scored twice and Kenzie Carson, Keira Grant and Kendal Davidson each added a goal in the win.

The SAHA women’s team (8-4-0-1) have one game on the weekend docket, as they face Northern Alberta Xtreme on the road Saturday.

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