The Edmonton Mustangs staved off elimination in their playoff series with the St. Albert Merchants in Wednesday’s 8-5 victory at Bill Hunter Arena.
Game four in the best-of-five quarter-finals was played Friday in St. Albert but the score was unavailable at press time.
If needed, game five is 8 p.m. Sunday at Bill Hunter Arena.
The Merchants grabbed the series lead with scores of 5-3 and 5-2 last weekend.
In game three, the Mustangs led 2-0 before Mike Bruni, Casey Reid and Matt Havens replied for the Merchants before the end of the first period.
The Mustangs struck three times in the middle frame and in the third made it 6-3 before Reid struck unassisted at 4:54 and Taylor Lotoski connected at 10:19.
The Mustangs potted their seventh goal at 11:04 and closed out the win into an empty net with 22 seconds remaining.
Brenden Passek and captain Dan Rombough picked up two assists apiece.
The Mustangs were led by Tanner Cimino and Dan McGillis with two goals and two assists apiece.
The Mustangs were 1-for-4 on the power play and the Merchants went 1-for-8.
Shots were 35-32 for the Merchants. Ty Clelland (4-2, 3.84 GAA) went the distance for the Merchants. Garret Storms (1-2, 5.00 GAA) replaced Theodore Zubot after the opening period for the Mustangs.
Reid was the Merchants’ top playoff scorer after six games with five goals and nine points and Rombough was second in points with eight assists.
The Mustangs (29-8-1) finished second and the Merchants (24-12-2) were third in the west standings and the teams split four games in league play.
The Mustangs averaged five goals a game and Cimino paced the attack with 43 goals and 82 points in 38 games.
The series winner advances to the best-of-seven semifinals for the right to compete for the Founders Cup and the two finalists will represent the Capital Junior B Hockey League at provincials, March 31 to April 3 in Red Deer.
The St. Albert Slash skate into the playoffs winless in their last five games in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League.
The Slash (10-16-6) are tied for sixth in the nine-team standings. League play ends Sunday.
A provincial championship tournament will determine the AMMFHL winner.
Last year, the Slash (15-12-5) tied for fifth and the lost the best-of-five opening playoff round in three games to the fourth-place Sherwood Park Fury.
Three of the five Slash losses in February were against the first-place Fury (20-5-6), including Wednesday’s 5-2 setback at Go Auto Arena.
Danielle Cox led the Slash in scoring this season with 13 goals and 19 points in 30 games.
The third-lowest scoring team in the AMMFHL was shut-out seven times, including twice in February.
The St. Albert Lady Raiders are in Lloydminster this weekend for two games to wrap up the regular season in the Alberta Major Bantam Female Hockey League.
The last home game for the Raiders (15-7-4) before the playoffs was Friday against the Edmonton Lightning but the score was unavailable at press time.
The Raiders were winners of four in a row before facing off against the Lightning, the defending AMBFHL champions
The Raiders skated into the weekend in third place in the north division, four points back of the second-place Lightning (17-5-4) and two in front of the third-place Lloydminster Icecats (15-9-2).
Isabelle Lajoie ranks seventh in league scoring with 26 points in 26 games and is the team leader in goals with 16.
