It’s a bounce-back game tonight for the first-place St. Albert Merchants in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
The first game for the Money Men since Friday’s 4-2 loss to the Strathcona Bruins is against the Edmonton Mustangs (16-11-1) at 8 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
The Merchants (23-6) had won 10 in a row before suffering only their second loss in 15 games at Akinsdale Arena.
The Bruins (14-15-1) capitalized three times on the power play to lead 3-1 after 40 minutes and scored into an empty net with seconds remaining.
Mike Bruni opened the scoring in the first and Braeden Farge trimmed the deficit to 3-2 with 9:19 to play.
Shots were 43-32 for the Merchants and Ethan Maertens-Poole (6-4, 3.07 GAA) was in net.
Friday the Merchants visit the North Edmonton Red Wings at 8 p.m. at Londonderry Arena.
The Merchants are one point in front of the Red Wings (21-6-3) in the west division with a game in hand.
The next home game is Sunday versus the Stony Plain Flyers (18-11-1) at 8 p.m.
Tonight at 8 p.m. the Morinville Jets face-off against the Beverly Warriors at Londonderry Arena.
The Jets (19-9-1) and Warriors (17-9-4) are battling for third place in the west standings.
The fourth win in five junior B games for the Jets was Sunday’s 5-3 decision against the Beaumont Chiefs (6-20-4) at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
Travis Geislinger led all scorers with three goals and assisted on Dylan Stang’s marker with 13:20 remaining to make it 4-1.
Brandon Dubuc also scored and Mike Brown (13-7, 3.62 GAA) stopped a game-high 39 shots.
Friday the Jets travel to Leduc to play the Riggers (8-20-2) at 7:45 p.m.
Sunday the Jets host the Edmonton Mustangs (16-11-1) at 6:45 p.m.
The Morinville Kings secured second place in the North Central Hockey League in Sunday’s 7-4 victory over the Devon Barons at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
The Kings (11-4) lead the Barons (9-8) by three points with two games in hand.
The Westlock Warriors (14-2), winners of five in a row, are the top team in the senior AA circuit.
The Kings recorded their second win in a row against the Barons as Cody Reiger’s first goal of the season snapped 4-4 tie with 2:33 to go.
Shorthanded efforts by Joel Pelletier and Brayden Arcand rounded out the scoring.
The Kings rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the second on goals by Neil Tarnasky and Chris Wilson and early in the third Wayne Gatza made it 4-3.
Wilson finished with three points against the two-time defending NCHL champions.
Shots were 45-39 for the Barons. Jordan Panasiuk, voted the NCHL’s best netminder in the 2013/14, posted the win in his first start of the season.
Friday the Kings play the Whitecourt Wild (6-8) at 8 p.m. in Mayerthorpe and Saturday the 2014 Hockey Alberta senior A champions entertain the Slave Lake Winterhawks (4-10) at 8:30 p.m.
The last game before the playoffs is Jan. 24 against the Rocky Rams (4-10) in Morinville.
The opening best-of-five playoff round starts the weekend of Jan. 30 and the first-place team has a bye.
The St. Albert Raiders took it on the chin Sunday after eight consecutive victories in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
The 8-1 setback to the Lloydminster Bobcats in the Border City also ended the Raiders’ 15-game undefeated streak.
The team’s last loss was 5-3 to the Grande Prairie Storm (11-10-5) Oct. 26 at Akinsdale Arena.
The Bobcats (14-9-3) tallied twice in the first and led 3-1 after two periods.
Cam Lockard’s power-play goal left the Raiders trailing by one in the second.
Ethan Crotty (4-3-2, 3.68 GAA) let in eight goals on 39 shots before Josh Dechaine mopped up in relief with under two minutes to play.
The Raiders were credited with 25 shots after being outshot 18-4 in the third.
Five players from both teams were assessed 10-minute misconducts with 1:45 remaining.
The result left the Raiders (15-5-7) trailing the north division-leading Canadian Athletic Club (18-6-4) by three points with a game in hand. The teams hook up Sunday at 2:15 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
Saturday the Raiders travel to play the Storm at 2 p.m.
The 12th win in 15 games for the Raiders was 4-2 over the KC Pats (5-19-2) last weekend in Edmonton. The Raiders outscored the Pats 3-1 in the third on a pair by Kole Bryks (power play and empty netter) and Riley Smith’s winner halfway through the period.
Cam Mazur also scored and Dechaine (11-2-5, 2.98 GAA) faced 24 shots.
