The Sherwood Park Crusaders came to play on Saturday night as they edged the Whitecourt Wolverines 5-4 in their home opener.
Trace Elson got the Wolverines on the scoreboard first with his unassisted short-handed goal at 16:59 of the first period.
Sherwood Park dominated the second period with three unanswered goals with Andrew Taverner scoring twice on the power play and Dane Phaneuf also notching a goal.
Whitecourt started a comeback in the third period with Jacques Bernier scoring at 5:56 from Matthew Abt and Cole Gammer. Trace Elson pulled the Wolverines even with his goal at 12:16 from Colten Mayor. The score went back and forth as Sherwood Park’s Arthur Gordon put the Crusaders up 4-3 before Ryan Berlin knotted the score again at 16:14 with his goal from Joel Herbert and Evan Warmington. The comeback was wasted when Andrew Taverner scored his hat-trick goal at 18:19 to seal the victory.
Sherwood Park outshot Whitecourt 37-28 with Tanner Kovacs in goal for the Wolverines. Whitecourt finished 0 for 9 on the power play.
Whitecourt returns home for two games next weekend against the Grande Prairie Storm on Friday, September 13 (7:00 pm) and Sunday, September 15 vs. the Fort McMurray Oil Barons in a 2:30 pm start.
