The season ended earlier than expected for the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
The SSAC Southgate Lions defeated the Sabres twice by identical 3-2 scores to sweep the best-of-three nitro north division opening playoff round.
The Sabres were 2-0-2 against Lions in league play and in the division standings St. Albert (23-6-7) and SSAC (22-9-5) finished second and third, respectively.
In the 21-team overall standings, the Sabres ranked fourth and the Lions tied for fifth.
Game one Tuesday was decided in the third period on goals by the Lions at 8:52 and 16:56.
Brett Bamber struck on the power play and the Lions pulled even in the first.
Ethan McKinley made it 2-1 with the man advantage in the second.
The Sabres were outshot 27-24 and Evan Fradette was in net.
The Sabres played without a pair of forwards, captain Brady Nicholas and Ryley Morgan.
Game stats from game two Wednesday at Castledowns Arena were not available at press time.
It’s the third year in a row the Lions eliminated the Sabres in the first round.
The St. Albert Flyers face-off against the SSAC Bulldogs tonight in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.
Puck drop is 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Flyers (17-11-6) are undefeated in five games as winners of three in a row and SSAC (26-2-4) is the top team in the north division.
The third consecutive win for the Flyers was Wednesday’s 9-1 rout of the Maple Leafs (7-23-4) at Millwoods Arena.
The Flyers struck four times on the power play while out-shooting the Leafs 35-22.
Brandon Reis tallied twice and Michael Iatridis, David Cloutier, Zach Giacobbo, Cole Sadownyk, Mason Rezewski, Keigan Miller and Adam Wilkins also scored. In net was Mitchell Reidy (7-3-4, 2.18 GAA).
League play ends next weekend for the Flyers and the Sutter North Cup provincial qualifier starts March 10 in Leduc.
Aidan Soltis found the back of the net in the extra frame for the St. Albert Lady Raiders in Wednesday’s win against the north division leaders in the Alberta Major Bantam Female Hockey League.
Katelynn Wagner on the power play and Kendra Johnson at even strength scored before the four-minute mark of the first period in the 3-2 decision against the Sherwood Park Royals in St. Albert.
The Royals (17-5-4) knotted it at two on the power play with 2:27 left in regulation time.
Shots were 23-13 for the Raiders and the winning goalie was Natasha Borrett (7-6-1, 1.90 GAA).
The Raiders (13-7-4) moved into a third-place tie with the Lloydminster Icecats (14-8-2) after their second-straight victory while going 4-2 during a six-game homestand that included losses of 4-0 and 4-3 to the Royals.
It was also the first game after a break in the schedule for the Alberta Winter games and nine Raiders – Bria Fewchuk, Robyn Short and Emma Sundar on defence and forwards’ Paydon Bialowas, Kylie Foisy, Isabelle Lajoie, Libby Langenhahn, Makenna Schuttler and Wagner – won gold with Zone 5 (Black Gold/Yellowhead) in Tuesday’s 3-1 final against Zone 3 (Calgary) in Medicine Hat.
Zone 5 finished 1-1-1 in pool B and in the crossover semifinals edged Zone 4 (Parkland) 2-1. Zone 4 was 2-0-1 as the top pool A team.
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the picture of the Raiders with their medals.
Tonight the Raiders visit the PAC Saints (1-25-1) at 7:30 p.m. at Tri-Leisure Centre and Sunday’s game against the Peace Country Storm (9-12-3) starts at 1:30 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
