Crusaders dominate Warriors to take first game of high school final

The St. Paul’s Crusaders have iced an opportunistic hockey team this season.

They didn’t lead the Winnipeg High School Hockey League with 103 goals in 24 games for nothing.

Such was the case in Game 1 of the WHSHL championship when the Crusaders blanked the Westwood Warriors 5-0 to capture a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series at Seven Oaks Arena on Monday. St. Paul’s can put the finishing touch on its second city crown in the last three years with a win Wednesday back at Seven Oaks. Puck drop is 4:30 p.m.

Spurred by a pair of goals in the second period, the Crusaders jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back.

“We’re satisfied with the result but we have a lot of respect for our opponent and we know that Wednesday is going to be very different,” said Crusaders head coach Rob Puchniak. “So, we have to reset. We have to bring a workman-like ethic to the game on Wednesday and assume that nothing carries over from today until then.

“It was a good effort. Guys finished some chances, we’re pleased with that, but we know they’ve got some really good horses in that room and they’re gonna come so we’ll have to be ready.”

Five different players scored for the Crusaders on a night they dominated the shots 36-19. Goaltender Ben Muise shut the door for his third shutout of the season.

In the other crease, Brandon Hachey rarely faced an easy shot in a 31-save loss. Every Crusaders’ goal started with a shot from the blue line and often navigated a screen that left the Warriors netminder in tough spots all game.

The opening goal of the contest was the story of Hachey’s night, as defenceman Cole Anseeuw’s shot off the draw into a crowd found the stick of Connor Allison and then the back of the net without much of a reaction from the goalie.

“We had struggles breaking out of our end and in the offensive zone we were producing, our forwards were cycling it down low and then feeding it the (defensemen), where we just put shots on net. They crashed the rebounds, screened for us and we completed things from there,” said Anseeuw, who also had a goal.

“I think everybody came out and produced and everybody on the team played extremely hard today and we saw it in the result.”

Despite having an 11-2 shot advantage in the first frame, the Crusaders only had one goal. As the second period passed the halfway point, Anseeuw provided more production from the backend, unleashing a howitzer from above the left circle that beat Hachey over the right pad and doubled the lead.

Less than two minutes later, defenceman Nicholas Miller snapped a hard shot that was once again deflected by a Crusader, this time Payne Wood.

“We’re very fortunate that a lot of the strength of our team comes from our backend,” Puchniak said. “Guys were shooting with their eyes up tonight, getting pucks through. Our forwards were doing a pretty good job of getting to the net front. So the things that we talked about, they executed and I’m grateful for that, for sure.”

The Crusaders suffocated the Warriors for the remainder of the night while icing the game with goals from Miller and Davis Krut in the third period.

St. Paul’s is expecting things to even out in Game 2, which would be more fitting for this matchup. The clubs have been at the centre of some thrilling bouts over the last three seasons, but the Crusaders have had the Warriors’ number so far.

The clubs met in the 2022 provincial championship and again in last year’s WHSHL semifinal. St. Paul’s won both series and is now 4-0 against Westwood this season.

“Confidence never hurts, but I think in this situation we have to realize our difficult the task is to finish,” Puchniak said. “Again, we’ve got a lot of respect for them and know that it’s going to be especially difficult on Wednesday.

“Really, we need to reset and not take anything for granted.”

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