McLeod, Saints prepare to meet Vipers

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Reporter
Wes McLeod and some of his new best friends did some celebrating Tuesday night.
However, McLeod, a 19-year-old defenceman from Kamloops, knows there is plenty of work left to be done.
McLeod plays for the Spruce Grove Saints, who won the AJHL championship and the Enerflex Cup last night, beating the visiting Fort McMurray Oil Barons, 6-0, in Game 7 in front of 1,650 fans at Grant Fuhr Arena.
McLeod drew two assists in the clincher, but the hero was forward Brett Cameron, a Spruce Grove native, who scored four goals and set up another. Goaltender Vincenzo Marozzi, a 20-year-old from Edmonton, stopped 20 shots in earning the shutout.
“I’ve never won a championship in my life. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said the 6-foot-2, 190-pound McLeod, who will join the University of Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves next season, as will Cameron and forward Scott Allen.
“We have a great squad,” McLeod continued. “Everyone is friends. It’s something special to be a part of a championship team like this.”
The difference in Game 7, said McLeod, was that “we did the simple things. We got pucks to the net. We out-battled them.”
The Saints won the odd-numbered games; the Oil Barons took the evens.
“We did everything the coaches asked for” in Game 7, McLeod said, “and that wins championships. We’re pretty happy.
“We rose to the challenge. We knew it was our time to win. We battled hard for one another and got it done.”
Next up? The Saints will play a best-of-seven series for the Doyle Cup against the Vernon Vipers, who won their second straight BCHL title Monday, ousting the visiting Powell River Kings 3-1 in Game 7. The B.C.-Alberta series opens Friday in Spruce Grove.
The winner of the Saints/Vipers series will advance to the Royal Bank Cup — the national junior A championship tournament — in Dauphin, Man., May 1-9.
The Dauphin Kings, the RBC’s host team, won the MJHL championship and will open the ANAVET Cup series in La Ronge against the SJHL-champion La Ronge Ice Wolves on Friday.
McLeod has a few friends on the Vernon roster, namely the Jones twins, Connor and Kellen, who are from Montrose, and Curtis Gedig, who is from West Kelowna.
“It’s going to be a battle,” McLeod said. “I’ve talked to them and they’re excited to play me, and I’m excited to play them. It should be fun.”
McLeod played last season and the first half of this season with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings. But when the Jan. 10 trade deadline arrived, the Spruce Kings cleaned house and McLeod found himself in Spruce Grove.
There were far worse places he could have landed, especially this season. That’s because the Saints had a phenomenal season. They won the AJHL’s regular-season title with a 52-4-1-3 record; their 108 points were 25 more than the Grande Prairie Storm, which swept the Saints in last season’s final, and 30 more than the Oil Barons.
Spruce Grove led the AJHL in offence and defence, scoring 252 goals and allowing only 99.
“I knew Prince George wanted to build for next season,” McLeod said. “I was more than wiling to go wherever they sent me. I thank them to this day for trading me to Spruce Grove and giving me the best opportunity of my life.”
Of course, having played in the BCHL means that McLeod now finds himself having to provide his mates with a Vernon scouting report.
“I’ll tell the boys what (the Vipers) are like,” he said. “We have to pressure them hard . . . win the battles . . . and we’ll be going to the RBC.”
After a first-round bye, the Saints swept the Bonnyville Pointiacs and then took out the Camrose Kodiaks in five games, setting up the meeting with the Oil Barons, whom they had swept 6-0 and outscored 26-6 in the regular season.
But the Oil Barons gave the Saints all they could handle in the final, until Tuesday, that is.
“We have a heavy forecheck and our defensive zone always comes first,” McLeod said. “We win the little battles along the wall, pop pucks to the middle, drive through the middle and get pucks to the net.
“And we’re eager to sacrifice for each other.”
Of such are championships made.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com