It took a shootout, but the Lacombe Generals squeaked past their former goalie in a 4-3 win Saturday night in Allan Cup Hockey West action.
Now manning the net for the Innisfail Eagles, Kraymer Barnstable turned aside 46 shots but allowed one goal in the shootout against his old team.
“Barny is good goalie. We knew he was going to play hard against us. I don’t think that would be a secret to anyone,” said Generals coach Sean Robertson.
“I’m happy for him, he had his reasons for going over there and I wish him all the best, just not against us.”
Veteran Generals forward Billy Marhsall had the only goal in the shootout and Lacombe netminder Jacob DeSerres stopped 14 shots in the game.
Barnstable made the move to the Eagles as a result of a numbers game in the Generals net, with DeSerres earning most of the playing time and Steven Stanford set to back him up.
Lacombe peppered Barnstable all night long and Robertson said he liked his team’s ability to fight through adversity and earn the win.
”A lot of second effort and character. We didn’t quit. We battled to the end and I felt like we battled for each other tonight and that was great to see for our organization,” Robertson said.
It was a feisty affair as per usual between the two rivals and Robertson said he was proud of the way his team stuck up for each other. The two teams racked up 55 minutes in penalties, including two fighting majors and one for cross checking.
”I like to see that we stick up for each other and that we are a team in every sense of the word. We have a lot of new guys and a lot of guys that have introduced themselves maybe this last week. They all bought in,” Robertson said.
Generals defenceman Brad Stebner opened the scoring in the first with a point shot, but the Eagles bounced back in the second with a power play goal from Riley Simpson. Simpson’s goal was only the Eagles’ eighth shot of the contest.
Only 23 seconds after the Eagles’ goal, Daulton Siwak found the mark for Lacombe. On the power play in the second, Matt Houston tied the game at two for Innisfail.
Marhsall restored the lead for Lacombe midway through the third, but Eagles forward Kyle Dorowicz notched a goal 13 seconds later to tie the game again.
Innisfail will host the Stony Plain Eagles on Nov. 18 and the Generals will travel to Rosetown to take on the Red Wings.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter