Smiley Blanks Flyers as A’s Roll

Chris Clegg
NPHL.com Writer

Kiefen Smiley stopped 36 shots to lead the Grande Prairie Athletics to a 3-0 win over the visiting Fort St. John Flyers Saturday night.

Tyrell Mason’s first period goal was all the A’s needed, but Parker Sharp and Mackenzie Caron added goals in the final six minutes for the A’s.
Losing goaltender Travis McLean was also outstanding, stopping 42 of 45 shots.
It was only the second shutout of the Flyers in franchise history for the A’s. Darren Walker shutout the Flyers 1-0 on Jan. 22, 2015. The teams were playing their 64th game against each other in NPHL history. The A’s have never shut out the Flyers in Fort St. John.
The game was the fourth meeting between the teams this season. The home team has won each game: FSJ 6-5 and 5-4 and GP 7-2 and 3-0.
GP has now defeated FSJ six straight games at home and 10 of the last 13. FSJ has only one regulation time win in GP since 2012 – a span of 13 games.

Flyers 0 at Athletics 3
Saturday, Dec. 8

First period
1. GP, Tyrell Mason 3 (Kelvin Neustaeter, Paul Larocque) 11:47
Penalties: Braden Crone GP (slashing) 7:29, Dennis Rix GP (tripping) 13:40.
Second period
No scoring.
Penalties: Brandon Pfeil FSJ (cross-checking) and Braden Crone GP (interference) 1:57, Jaxon Glass FSJ (tripping) and Tyrone Kipling GP (roughing after the whistle) 4:14, Tyrell Fenton FSJ (hooking) 4:48, Tyrell Mason GP (hooking) 5:52, Paul Larocque GP (boarding) 7:41, Jeff Shipton FSJ (tripping) 9:32, Chris Lanouette GP (cross-checking, misconduct) 12:22, Tyrell Fenton FSJ (cross-checking) 16:10.
Third period
2. GP, Parker Sharp 4 (Andrew Buote, Sam Bosek) 14:45
3. GP, Mackenzie Caron 10 (Dennis Rix) 16:12
Penalties: Jaxon Glass FSJ (interference) 1:18, Dennis Rix GP (cross-checking) 7:44, Lien Miller-Jeannotte FSJ (game misconduct) and Chris Lanouette GP (instigating minor, fighting major, game misconduct) and Braden Crone GP (instigating minor, fighting major, double game misconduct) 18:32.
Shots on goal:

Fort St. John	11	14	11	-36
Grande Prairie 9 16 20 -45

Goaltenders: Flyers, Travis McLean; Athletics, Kiefen Smiley.
Power Plays: FSJ 0-7; GP 0-4.
Penalties in Minutes: FSJ 22; GP 70.