Regals win home opener

High Prairie’s Lawrence Anderson, left, skates away from Jeremy Belcourt during action at the Sports Palace Oct. 25. The Regals won the game 12-7.

Chris Clegg
South Peace News

If you like plenty of goals, then purchase your High Prairie Regals season ticket now. The Regals found themselves on both sides of shootouts to open their North Peace Hockey League season last week. After being outgunned 10-7 in Peace River Oct. 24, the Regals rebounded nicely to outscore the Lakeland Eagles 12-7 in their home opener Oct. 25. “The boys just got it together,” says Regals assistant coach Bruce Cunningham, referring to the win. The Regals trailed 4-3 after the first period but erupted for five straight goals in the second to take command. “We tried to look at a few matchups in the first period,” says Cunningham. The adjustments paid off as the Regals took an 8-4 lead to the dressing room. Of course, having two veterans like Tyler Shantz and Lance Gauchier doesn’t hurt. First star Gauchier scored four goals, including two on the power play, and added a pair of assists. Shantz scored three goals and added six assists and appears poised to win another scoring title. The Regals scored three power play goals in four chances marking the second straight game special teams clicked three times. “Those are the key guys,” says Cunningham, referring to Gauchier and Shantz. “We wanted to try and get our power play going early this season. After that, hopefully, everything will fall into place.” He alluded to the fact so much time is spent on special teams in the NPHL it’s vital to have special teams which perform at a high level because it makes the different in many games. Lawrence Anderson and Cory Reid also scored twice in the win over Lakeland while Stewart Cunningham added the other goal. Craig Van de Ligt also chipped in with four assists. James Tallman had four goals and an assist to lead the Eagles. Lenny L’Hirondelle, Vern Cunningham Jr. and Ray Cunningham added the others. The Regals outshot the Eagles 41-26 and scored three power play goals on four chances while the Eagles were blanked on four chances. Kyle Shantz was the winning goaltender after a shaky start to his season in Peace River. Nelson Tallman suffered the loss. The win was especially sweet for the Regals after being swept by the Eagles last season. The Regals went to a venue one night earlier where they haven’t had much luck over the years. Things didn’t change much as the 10-7 loss marked the Regals 11th loss in the last 13 games in Peace River. What was hard to take is the Regals blew three first period leads. They led 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 only to see the Stampeders tie the game shortly after. The Stamps would rally to take a 5-3 first period lead and lead 8-5 in the second before cruising to victory. The Regals weren’t without their chances, however. They fired 52 shots on the Peace River net compared to 37 for the Stamps. Kyle Shantz had a tough night giving up eight goals in only 23:50 minutes of action. Ex-Grimshaw Huskie Chris Houlder scored four goals to lead the Stampeders. Another ex-Huskie, Adam Seward, added a pair while Darren Noskey, James Hogan, Cam Hand and Gerry Young added singles. Nick Laporte added five assists and Aaron Parenteau three to make a winner of rookie head coach Shawn Dickie in his debut. Tyler Shantz had a hat-trick and a lone assist for the Regals. Andrew Lamouche added a pair while Reid and Stewart Cunningham added singles. The Regals clicked on three of nine power play chances with Shantz netting two of the power play goals, Reid the other. Peace River was two-for-six on the power play with Young and Noskey scoring. The Regals get a week off before traveling to Fairview Nov. 1 to meet the Kings. As if Peace River wasn’t bad enough, the Regals have a worse record in Fairview by losing 13 times in their last 14 visits to the Heart of the Peace. “It’s always a tough place to play,” says Bruce Cunningham. “It doesn’t matter who they are; it seems like they always field a whole team.” Nonetheless, he is confident of a win. “If everyone shows up we should be able to take a full team.” The importance of every point possible is not lost on Cunningham. The 6-4 loss in Fairview last season was crucial in the Regals failed drive to place first in the East Division last season. “When you know there’s games you can’t give away, you have to make sure you’re on the same page,” says Cunningham. Most importantly, it means icing full squads for crucial road games.

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