Opening Weekend in the Books

Three games marked the start of the NCHL's 2022-2023 regular season.  

Fort Saskatchewan went into Morinville with 11 skaters and came away with what could be expected facing a full lineup of Kings, taking it on the chin to a 13-2 drubbing. This came as somewhat of a surprise as the Chiefs had finished up their 21/22 season on a relative high after coming oh so close to a Provincial Championship.  It's early in the season and teams will have lots of time to sort things out.  The Kings were led by the usual combo of Kyle Harris 2-3-5 and Adam Wilson 1-4-5, while rookie Cole Gupta added 2-2-4,  18/19 scoring champ Mikey Mantello chipped in with 1-2-3, as did Zach Carr and Kyle Plett. Chiefs goals came from Trevor Posch and rookie Callum O'Shea. 

Defending NCHL Champs Camrose Crush opened their season with their championship banner presentation followed by a 7-3 win over visiting Devon Barons.  The game was closer than the score might indicate as the Crush led 4-3 going into the third period.  Newcomer Martin Sonnenberg lead the Crush with 3-1-4 while RJ Reed 1-2-3 and newly minted captain Dylan McCombie and rookie Jarod Hovde each added 1-1-2 to pace the Crush win.  Veteran Brandon Powlik paced the Barons with 2-0-2. 

President's Cup winners Lacombe Generals travelled to Westlock and dumped the hometown Warriors 6-1 in a matchup of last season's semi finals.  Captain Cam Maclise topped all scorers with 0-3-3 to pace the Generals to the win.  Defenseman Craig Gans chipped in with 1-1-2, as did Colin Zimmer while last season's MVP and Top Goaltender Mac Engel turned away 36 of 37 shots the Warriors sent his way.  Kyle Dronyk had the Warrior's goal.

Action resumes this Saturday as the Red Deer Rustlers will open their season on the road as they take on the Camrose Crush (8:00) and the Devon Barons will travel south to meet the Lacombe Generals (7:45).