SAHA advances to Circle K semifinals with 4-0 win

By James Tubb on December 30, 2022.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
ReporterTubb

The South Alberta Hockey Academy is moving on at the Circle K Classic.

SAHA shutout the Yale Hockey Academy 4-0 Friday night to punch a ticket into the semifinals.

Head coach Brayden Desjardins says they didn’t have their strongest start but was impressed with how they carried the play the rest of the game.

“We were a a little bit scrambley feeling them out early in the game and it wasn’t necessarily our best start but we have a good goalie and Zack made some really big saves,”Desjardins said. “We also have some pretty special offensive players and they just took over as the game went on but I can’t say enough good things about how hard we worked today.

“That’s a tough game to play. It’s a short turnaround, our fourth game in four days. So to be able to come out and battle like that and really suffocate a team like that is really special.”

Zahara turned aside all 29 shots faced for his second shutout of the tournament.

SAHA opened the scoring Friday night 12:59 into the first period with Kade Duell’s fifth goal of the tournament. Kadon McCann and Julien Laqua added the assists.

The club had four power play opportunities in the period but could not convert on the man advantages.

Early in the second however, SAHA jumped ahead 2-0 on Josiah Jackson’s first goal of the Classic. Noah Dziver had the assist on the Medicine Hat product’s goal just 2:27 into the period.

That was it for the second period, but SAHA found their scoring touch in the third.

Gavin McKenna picked up a rebound and fired home his third goal of the tournament 5:20 into the frame. Kadon McCann and Duell had the assists.

A little over seven minutes later Ryan Miller scored on a behind-the-net pass from Brayden Sumner to give SAHA a 4-0 lead. Brett Calhoon had the second assist on what was the final tally of the game.

Desjardins says it’s been special watching his team buy-in to their offensive system and provide scoring up and down their lineup.

“We forecheck hard, I don’t know if there is a team that forechecks as hard as we do and it’s just a testament to how bad these guys want it,” Desjardins said. “These guys are really special hockey players and when we stick to our structure, we keep things simple, it’s really hard for teams to handle us. It’s really nice that we’ve got the amount of depth that we have and it’s no surprise that everyone’s starting to score.

SAHA heads to the semifinals Saturday to face the Burlington Eagles who beat NAX 4-0 on Friday. That game gets underway at 4 p.m. Desjardins says all SAHA has to focus on is sticking to their game plan as they look to make it to two straight finals at the invitational tournament.

“We play extremely fast, I don’t know if the Burlington is as fast as us, so we want to play a quick transitional game and keep on  putting pucks behind their defence and force them  to make plays and  it’ll be really hard for them,” Desjardins said. :It is exciting though, this is why you come to the Circle K Classic, you want to see some new teams, you want to see different players from different parts of the world. It’s exciting for us to get a team like this, we know they’re going to be good, but we’ll be ready.”

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