The playoff series between the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres and SSAC Southgate Lions is underway in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
Tuesday’s score from game one in St. Albert was unavailable at press time.
Game two in the best-of-three opening round in the nitro north division goes tonight at 7:45 p.m. at Confederation Arena.
Game three, if needed, is 1:45 p.m. Saturday at Akinsdale Arena.
The Sabres were expecting to be short three players for series opener and potentially two players for tonight’s contest.
The Sabres (23-6-7) finished second and SSAC (22-9-5) was third in the nitro standings and in league play St. Albert was 2-0-2 against the Lions.
The Sabres were 1-2-2 in their last five games before the playoffs after Saturday’s 3-3 draw against the Lloydminster Heat (13-16-7) in St. Albert and SSAC was 4-0-1 as winners of its last four games.
The series winner will play the Sherwood Park Flyers (31-3-2) or CAC Inland Cement (15-15-6) in the best-of-three nitro final.
The Flyers are ranked second overall in the 21-team AMBHL behind the Calgary Bisons (31-2-3) of the challenger south division. The Lethbridge Golden Hawks (29-5-2) of the ram south division are third and the Sabres are fourth.
The Morinville Jets swept the Beverly Warriors with two overtime victories in the best-of-three playoff series in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Tyler Hagel scored the OT winner in game one, with Craig Hills and Brandon Dubuc drawing assists in Friday’s 2-1 decision at Londonderry Arena.
The series clincher was Lee Gadoury power-play marker in sudden-death in Sunday’s 4-3 triumph at Ray McDonald Sports Centre. Jorden Rooke and Brett Duboc assisted on the play.
Mitchell Perrott opened the scoring in game one on the power play in the second period and Beverly pulled even with the man advantage with 62 seconds left in the second stanza.
Shots were 40-35 for Beverly and Jordan Greenfield of the Jets was in net.
In game two, Gadoury struck on the power play and Hagel connected at even strength in the middle frame.
Brandon Dubuc made it 3-2 with the man advantage mid-way through the third and Beverly tied with 7:52 remaining.
Shots were 17-10 for Beverly in the second and 39-34 overall for the Jets. Greenfield was between the pipes.
Beverly (22-13-3) placed fourth and the Jets (15-20-3) were fifth in the west division and in league play the teams split four games with two wins apiece on home ice.
The Jets will play the North Edmonton Red Wings (29-6-3), the 2015 Founders Cup and provincial champions, or Edmonton Mustangs (29-8-1) in the best-of-five quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Brandon Duboc finished 10th in league scoring with 58 points in 33 games and Hagel tied for 13th with 53 points in 30 games. Hagel also led the Jets in goals with 33 and Dubuc was second with 30.
The St. Albert Flyers are undefeated in four games after shutting out the Camrose Red Wings twice in seven days in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.
The Flyers (16-11-6) are fifth in the north division and tonight they play the Maple Leafs (7-21-4) at 8 p.m. at Millwoods Arena.
The second shutout in a row for the Flyers was Sunday’s 2-0 decision against the Red Wings (7-22-4) at Akinsdale Arena. Colton Girard (10-8-2, 2.34 GAA) faced 23 shots while posting his fourth shutout and the team’s fifth of the season.
Brett Miller and Ryan Deets scored.
Mitchell Reidy (6-3-4, 2.27 GAA) blocked 18 shots for his first shutout as the Flyers won 7-0 Feb. 7 in Camrose.
Eddie Gallagher potted the first four goals and Miller assisted on all four scoring plays.
Gallagher is the team leader in goals with 21 in 32 games and is second in points with 37. Cole Gupta is the top scorer with 40 points in 31 games.
The St. Albert Slash and Red Deer Chiefs have a home-and-away series scheduled this weekend in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League.
Game times are 7:45 p.m. Saturday at Go Auto Arena and 2:15 p.m. Sunday in Red Deer.
Nine points separate the fourth-place Chiefs (15-7-5) and sixth-place Slash (10-13-6) in the standings.
The second loss in a row for the Slash was against the second-place Sherwood Park Fury (18-5-5) in Sunday’s 5-0 setback in Sherwood Park.
Slash netminder Hannah Clark (6-7-2, 1.74 GAA) faced 50 shots, while Robyn McPherson (10-5-1, 1.03 GAA) of the Fury stopped 11 for her league-high sixth shutout.
Two weeks ago, the Slash lost 4-1 to the Fury in Sherwood Park.
