The Edmonton Rural Bantam AA Hockey League final between the St. Albert Bears and Beaumont Braves was decided Tuesday in Leduc.
The score from game three was unavailable at press time.
The Bears won the series opener 2-1 Thursday in Leduc and the Braves posted a 3-0 decision Monday at Akinsdale Arena.
Adam Olsen scored the winner and assisted on Josh Klassen’s goal in game one.
Shots were 28-25 for the Braves and Brady Kobitowich of the Bears was in net.
Game two was scoreless until the third period and the last goal by the Braves was into an empty net.
In league play, the Bears (13-13-6) placed third in the Metro red division and the Braves (21-6-4) shared first place in the Rural white division.
In previous meetings, the Braves won 2-1 Feb. 26 in St. Albert in the last game before the playoffs and the Bears prevailed 5-3 in the provincial opener last month in Taber. The Bears finished 1-3 and the Braves were 1-2-1 at provincials.
The St. Albert Raiders Hockey Club has selected the following AAA head coaches for the 2016/17 season.
Jack Redlick is the new bench boss of the midget AAA Raiders.
The St. Albert product played for the Kamloops Blazers (17 games), Vancouver Giants (49 games) and Regina Pats (five games) in the Western Hockey League and Victoria Tigres (26 games) in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and in 2003/04 racked up 304 penalty minutes in 52 games with the Grande Prairie Storm in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
The assistant coach for the Drayton Valley Thunder in the AJHL will also coach Team Northeast in the Alberta Cup at the end of the month
Dan Auchenberg will take over the reigns of the midget AAA female Slash.
The former head coach of the Sherwood Park Crusaders of the AJHL coached the Sherwood Park Fury to second place in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League and a berth at provincials.
Auchenberg was in his second season with the Fury. Sherwood Park is no longer part of the AMMFHL as Hockey Alberta decided to go with six teams instead of nine in its new female hockey model. St. Albert, Edmonton, Calgary, Okotoks, Red Deer and Lloydminster remain as midget AAA female communities.
Sandro Pisani has been promoted from the peewee A female Hit to coach the bantam AAA female Raiders.
The former head coach of the midget AAA Raiders and KC Pats guided the Hit to back-to-back provincial championships.
Lee Zalasky will run the show for the bantam AAA Sabres.
The head coach of the PAC Saints of Spruce Grove in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League for the past two seasons was also an assistant coach of the Alberta Golden Bears, winners of the 2015 University Cup.
The Lloydminster product played for the Moose Jaw Warriors (110 games), Calgary Hitmen (136 games) and Prince George Cougars (30 games) in the WHL and was also part of two University Cup championship teams with the Alberta Golden Bears in 2006 and 2008 during a 139-game university career.
Zalasky also spent time with the Evansville IceMen of the Central Hockey League in 2010/11.
The Raiders’ coach selection committee will continue to finalize appointments for the remaining teams.
Serge Lajoie of St. Albert will join Team Canada at the IIHF World U18 Championship as an assistant coach.
The 10-team tournament runs April 14 to 24 in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Canada is in group B with Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Denmark.
Canada won gold at U18 worlds in 2003, 2008 and 2013 and bronze the past two years.
This season, Lajoie coached the Alberta Golden Bears to a 19-7-2 conference record and second place in the Canada West playoffs for a berth in the CIS national championship.
He was also an assistant coach for the Golden Bears during their 2006 and 2008 championship seasons.
Before joining the Golden Bears, Lajoie spent five seasons as head coach of the NAIT Ooks and led them to Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference titles in 2013 and 2015 and was named ACAC coach of the year in 2014 and 2015.
He has also served as an assistant coach for one of Canada’s three teams at the World U17 Hockey Challenge.
The former St. Albert Saint played five seasons for the Golden Bears and recorded 141 points, including 105 assists in 198 games. He celebrated a national championship in 1992 and the next season, his last with the Golden Bears, was awarded the Mervyn “Red” Dutton Trophy as the Canada West defenceman of the year, the Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy as the Canadian university men’s hockey player of the year, while recording 50 points in 45 games, and the Wilson Challenge Trophy as the U of A male athlete of the year.
After university, Lajoie played five seasons in the German First Division with EC Bad Nauheim and registered 165 points and 401 penalty minutes in 203 games.
