Sabers finish out season with 34 goals vs Long Beach

by Lyanna Yeow

The San Diego Sabers faced the Long Beach Shredders in a two-game series at Icetown Carlsbad on Thursday, February 22, 2024, and at Lakewood Ice on Friday, February 23, 2024. The Sabers won both games with final scores of 14-1 on Thursday and 20-4 on Friday.

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Game 1: San Diego Sabers 14, Long Beach Shredders 1

The two-game series started very strong as the Sabers completely dominated and controlled their last home game of the season, winning 14-1. It was not an easy battle during the first period as it was momentarily a relatively close game that ended 2-1 in the Sabers’ favor. However, the Sabers took control and carried their goal-scoring momentum throughout the rest of the game. Sabers’ goaltender, Loïc St-Denis-Lacombe, held down the fort after only letting one goal slip past him in the first period. 

Sabers’ Ryder Heskett opened up the first period as he scored a power-play goal at 9:32 which was assisted by Mario Paganini and Tristan Frizado after the Shredders received a 2-minute penalty for cross-checking (1-0). 18 seconds later, Carson Weiner scored the Sabers’ second goal of the first period, assisted by Jackson Litzinger and Matyas Toulec, which extended their lead and made the score 2-0. Shredders would close out the period with a powerplay goal at 18:41 after the Sabers received a 2-minute hooking penalty. This ended the first period with a score of 2-1. St-Denis-Lacombe faced 12 shots on goal while Shredders’ goaltender, Kyan Harding, faced 35 shots on goal by the end of the first period. 

After the Shredders received two penalties at the beginning of the second period, Toulec scored a power-play goal at 3:29 which was assisted by Jacob Therrien and Markus Gill (3-1). Toulec’s goal extended the Sabers’ lead and kickstarted their momentum which resulted in 6 goals being scored during the second period. Justin Ouellet scored a goal at 11:29 which was assisted by Frizado and Therrien and made the score 4-1. Frizado would then score at 14:06, with an assist by Ouellet and Tim Gradin (5-1). 55 seconds later, Gradin would score the Sabers’ 6th goal of the game which was assisted by Litzinger and Frizado (6-1). This was followed up by Frizado scoring at 16:30, assisted by Ouellet and Therrien (7-1). With an assist by Ouellet and Frizado, Paganini scored the Sabers’ 8th goal of the second period 1 minute and 17 seconds after Frizado’s goal (8-1). Gill scored the last goal of the second period at 17:58, assisted by Litzinger and Alec Zimowsky, and ended the period with a score of 9-1. Despite having two power play opportunities, the Shredders were unable to score a goal against St-Denis-Lacombe who saved all of Shredders’ 8 shots on goal. Shredders’ Harding saved 33 out of 40 shots on goal by the end of the second period. 

The Sabers continued their scoring streak into the third period as they scored a total of 5 goals before the game ended. The first goal of the third period was scored by Ouellet, assisted by Frizado and Gill, and made the score 10-1. Frizado scored the Sabers’ 11th goal of the game 16 seconds later which was assisted by Therrien and Ouellet (11-1). At 12:45, Toulec scored a goal assisted by Gradin and Weiner (12-1). 56 seconds later, Toulec’s goal was followed up by Weiner scoring a goal, assisted by Paganini and Toulec, which made the score 13-1. The last goal of the game was scored at 19:22 by Therrien and was assisted by Litzinger and Paganini. The third period ended with a final score of 14-1 which secured the Sabers’ last win on home ice. The Shredders had one unsuccessful power play opportunity, 7 shots on goal, and remained scoreless by the end of the third period. The Sabers had 5 successful goals out of 33 shots by the end of the third period. 

By the end of the game, Sabers’ St-Denis-Lacombe saved a total of 26 out of 27 shots on goal while Shredders’ Harding saved a total of 94 out of 108 shots on goal. The Shredders were able to score on one out of three power play opportunities. The Sabers were able to score on two out of six power play opportunities. Although the Sabers’ power play success rate in this game was not the strongest, this did not hinder their goal-scoring success as they were able to score a total of 14 goals and secure a Game 1 win in the two-game series. 

Friday, February 23, 2024

Game 2: San Diego Sabers 20, Long Beach Shredders 4

The second game in the two-game series ended with an impressive win as the Sabers won 20-4 against the Shredders. Although the Shredders were able to slip a few goals past the Sabers’ goaltender, Stepan Vedernikov, it was no match for the 20 goals that were scored by the Sabers. 

The Shredders opened up the first period with a goal scored at 5:50, however, their 1-0 lead would be nulled as the Sabers scored 3 minutes later. The game-tying goal was scored by Paganini and assisted by Ouellet and Frizado (1-1). The Sabers would take the lead and make the score 2-1 after Frizado scored a goal which was assisted by Paganini at 9:46. Paganini extended the Sabers’ lead after scoring a goal, assisted by Therrien and Toulec’s, at 13:44 and made the score 3-1. At 17:51, Paganini would record his first hat-trick of the game after scoring a goal that was assisted by Frizado and Ouellet (4-1). The last goal recorded during the first period was scored by Ouellet, assisted by Frizado and Paganini, at 18:40 and ended the period with a score of 5-1. Shredders had 8 shots on goal while the Sabers had 26 shots on goal by the end of the first period. 



Paganini opened up the second period with a goal, assisted by Frizado and Therrien, at 1:08 which continued to extend the Sabers’ lead (6-1). The first penalty of the game was called at 5:00 as the Shredders received a hooking penalty and put the Sabers on their first power play attempt of the game. A minute and 15 seconds into the two-minute power play, the Sabers scored their first power-play goal of the game and made the score 7-1. The Sabers’ first power-play goal of the game was assisted by Litzinger and Therrien and scored by Carson Weiner. The Shredders answered back with a goal at 7:02 which momentarily made it a five-goal game (7-2). However, after the Shredders received a high-sticking penalty, this led to the Sabers scored their second power-play goal of the game and the Sabers extended their lead (8-2). The second Sabers’ power play goal was scored at 7:59 by Paganini and assisted by Heskett and Gradin. With an assist by Paganini, Frizado scored a goal at 8:18 which momentarily made the score 9-2. The Shredders answered back and scored their third goal of the game at 9:13 (9-3). Shortly after this goal, the Shredders had a power play opportunity after Frizado received a high-sticking penalty. The Shredders remained unsuccessful on their power play attempt and Ouellet scored a short-handed goal which was assisted by Paganini and Frizado at 12:53 (10-3). Paganini would record his second hat trick of the game as he scored a goal at 13:32 after an assist by Ouellet and Heskett (11-3). At 15:08, Weiner scored his second goal of the game which was assisted by Felix Gouin and Therrien (12-3). 32 seconds later, Paganini scored a goal, assisted by Ouellet and Frizado, and continued to extend the Sabers’ lead (13-3). The Sabers had another penalty called on them as Heskett received a 2 minute interference penalty which put the Shredders on another powerplay. The Shredders' power play attempt remained unsuccessful and resulted in another Sabers short-handed goal which was scored by Gradin and assisted by Frizado and Litzinger at 18:07. This short-handed goal was the last scored during the second period and ended with a score of 14-3 in the Sabers’ favor. This period also ended with Ouellet receiving a 2-minute slashing penalty at 19:39 which would carry into the start of the third period. The Sabers were successful on their two power play attempts while the Shredders remained scoreless as they struggled on all three of their power play attempts during the second period. Shredders’ goaltender, Hunter Krell, saved 27 out of 36 shots on goal while Sabers’ Vedernikov saved 14 out of 16 shots on goal. 

Tempers flared during the third period as multiple roughing penalties were called, however, this did not stop the Sabers from scoring 6 goals during the last period of the game. Frizado scored a short-handed goal at 1:24, assisted by Heskett and Gill, and momentarily made the score 15-3. The Shredders scored their last goal of the game 35 seconds after Frizado’s goal which made it an eleven-goal game (15-4). At 8:26, Frizado recorded his last hat-trick of the season as he scored a goal, assisted by Paganini and Ouellet, and extended the Sabers’ lead (16-4). Gradin scored a goal at 10:03 which was assisted by Frizado and Paganini (17-4). After an assist by Weiner and Frizado, Hawley scored a goal at 12:04 and made the score 18-4. This was followed up by Paganini scoring his 8th goal of the game, assisted by Ouellet and Frizado, at 13:52 (19-4). The last goal of the game was scored 10 seconds later by Litzinger, assisted by Weiner and Ouellet, and made the final score 20-4. The Sabers ended the third period with 27 shots on goal while the Shredders ended with 12 shots on goal. 



By the end of the game, Shredders’ Krell faced a total of 89 shots on goal and saved 69 of those shots. Sabers’ Vedernikov faced a total of 36 shots on goal and saved 32 of those shots. The Sabers were able to capitalize on two out of three power play opportunities. The Shredders remained unsuccessful on all five of their power play opportunities. 

Paganini scored 8 out of 20 goals and recorded two hat-tricks during this game. Frizado also recorded a hat-trick and scored 4 goals. Ouellet, Weiner, and Gradin all scored 2 goals which contributed to 6 out of 20 goals. Hawley and Litzinger scored 1 goal each which contributed 2 more goals to the Sabers’ total of 20 goals. This twenty-goal game was one where the Sabers’ team effort was demonstrated as players were recording multiple assists throughout the whole game. 

The Sabers closed out the 23-24 regular season strong after a remarkable two-game series against the Shredders. Their efforts in the last two games of the season, which resulted in a total of 34 goals being scored (14 goals in Game 1, 20 goals in Game 2), were not only impressive but also a memorable way to close out the season.