The St. Albert Merchants are climbing the west division standings one win at a time in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Wednesday’s 5-1 result against the Beverly Warriors (12-6-2) was the fifth victory in six games before the Merchants (12-7-2) hosted the Edmonton Royals (6-4), the top east division team, on Friday. The score was unavailable at press time.
The Merchants and Beverly shared third place in the west after the teams hooked up at Clareview Arena. Veteran defenceman Jared Kwasney was the game star with one goal and three assists and Ty Clelland (10-7, 3.41 GAA) was strong in net with 40 saves.
It was 2-0 in the first period on Cam Mazur’s power-play marker and Steve Knoblauch’s first goal of the season.
Matt Havens made it 3-1 at 7:53 of the second.
In the third, Havens recorded his team-leading 21st goal and 41st point and Kwasney struck on the power play.
Shots were 21-10 in the third as the Merchants racked up 51 shots overall.
Casey Reid also posted two assists.
The next game is the Dec. 4 toy drive and food bank event at Akinsdale Arena against the west division-leading Edmonton Mustangs (15-4) at 8 p.m. Fans are asked to bring an unwrapped toy or non-perishable items as admission. All toys will be donated to the St. Albert Kinette Christmas hamper program and food items will go to the St. Albert Food Bank.
The Merchants will also unveil their away jerseys, donated by Select Equipment Rentals of St. Albert.
The red-hot St. Albert Sabres play three games in four days, starting today against the Calgary Northstars in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
Puck drop is 4:15 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Sabres (12-2-3) are 6-0-1 since their last loss, 4-2 against the Calgary Flames (7-9) Oct. 25 in the Cow Town and the Northstars (12-4) are second in the challenger south division.
Monday’s big game against the Sherwood Park Flyers (14-0-1) starts at 7:30 p.m. in Sherwood Park.
The second-place Sabres trail the Flyers by two points in the nitro north division but the Flyers, ranked second overall in the 21-team AMBHL, have two games in hand.
The Sabres host the SSAC Southgate Lions (12-4) Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The last game for the Sabres was Monday’s 3-1 decision against the visiting PAC Saints (8-10-2), the charger north division leaders. The McKinley brothers, Logan and Ethan, scored and Michael Benning tallied the winner in the second period. Stuart Dovey also drew two assists in the team’s third win in a row.
The Sabres were outshot 26-24 and Ryley Osland (5-2-1, 2.35 GAA) was in net.
The St. Albert Slash closed out the month of November with a 3-4-1 record after Wednesday’s loss to the Sherwood Park Fury in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League.
Danielle Cox scored in the 3-1 loss to the Fury (7-2-3) at Go Auto Arena. It was Cox’s sixth goal and team-leading ninth point in 15 games.
The Fury’s game winner was tallied on the power play at 12:27 of the first period against the league’s most penalized team.
Shots were 32-14 for the Fury and Hannah Clark (3-5-1, 1.67 GAA) was the Slash netminder.
The next game for the Slash (5-8-4) is Dec. 12 against the first-place PAC Saints (9-1-4) at 1:30 p.m. at Stu Barnes Arena.
The third home win in a row for the St. Albert Flyers was Tuesday’s 5-1 decision against the PAC Saints in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.
Eddie Gallagher and David Cloutier potted two goals apiece, Ryan Deets also scored and Cole Gupta had two helpers against the Saints (7-3-1).
The shot count was 29-20 for the Flyers (9-4-2) and Mitchell Reidy (4-2-1, 2.15 GAA) was in net.
The Flyers finished their November schedule with five wins and two losses.
The Flyers play the Sherwood Park Squires (10-1-1) Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena. The team’s home record is 6-3.
