Ryen Papirny stopped 28 shots against his former team Sunday, as the St. Albert Merchants knocked off the Founders Cup champion North Edmonton Red Wings at Akinsdale Arena.
The 3-2 decision also marked Papirny’s second win in as many starts for a sparkling 2.00 GAA with the Merchants (2-1).
The Maple Leaf Athletic Club product broke into the Capital Junior B Hockey League with the 2014/15 Red Wings and joined the Merchants after the start of the 2015/16 campaign. He finished 6-2, with a 3.45 GAA and .880 save percentage.
Thomas Rotundo opened the scoring and the Red Wings (1-1-1) notched the equalizer before the first period ended.
It was 2-1 Red Wings in the second when Brenden Passek tied it at 4:25 and Matt Havens capitalized on the power play at 19:02, with Ryan Cooper and Cam Mazur drawing assists.
Cooper leads the Merchants in scoring with three goals and seven points and Havens has five assists and six points.
Shots were 12 apiece during the scoreless third frame and 30-30 overall.
Friday the Merchants host the rival Morinville Jets (2-0-1) at 8 p.m. and Sunday they play the Edmonton Royals (3-0) at 8 p.m. at Confederation Arena.
The Jets are in action tonight against the Red Wings at 8 p.m. at Londonderry Arena.
Last weekend the Jets downed the Edmonton Mustangs 5-3 in Morinville.
Tyler Hagel led the Jets with one goal and three assists in his first game of the season.
Brett Dubuc tallied twice and Michael Wolosyhn and Craig Hills also connected.
Colton Kucher of the Jets faced 28 shots.
Dubuc and Lee Gadoury are the team’s top scorers with three goals apiece.
The puck drops this weekend for the St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
The regular season starts Saturday against the Canadian Athletic Club at 7:45 p.m. and Sunday’s game against the Southside Athletic Club goes at 1:15 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Raiders won three and lost two in the pre-season.
The inaugural Alberta Female Hockey League season for the midget AAA St. Albert Slash begins this weekend against the Red Deer Chiefs.
Face-off times are 5 p.m. Saturday in Red Deer and 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Go Auto Arena.
The Rocky Mountain Raiders, Calgary Fire, Lloydminster Steelers and Edmonton Pandas round out the six-team league.
The Slash will also attend the 2 Nations tournaments Oct. 28 to 30 in Detroit and Dec. 1 to 4 in Toronto, plus the Edge tournament Feb. 2 to 5 in Calgary.
Meanwhile, the midget elite St. Albert Sharks and bantam elite St. Albert Raiders play their first AFHL games Oct. 15. The Sharks host the Rocky Mountain Raiders at 7:45 p.m. at Go Auto and the Raiders visit the Edmonton Pandas at 10:30 a.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
The AFHL consists of 12 midget elite and 12 bantam elite teams.
The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres skate three times in five days, starting Friday against CAC Lehigh Cement.
Faceoff is 8:15 p.m. at Callingwood Arena.
Sunday the Sabres visit the Lloydminster Heat at 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday they host the Leduc Oil Kings at 8:15 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Sabres are 2-0 in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League after going 7-0 in the pre-season.
The team’s last win was 4-1 Sunday against the SSAC Southgate Lions at Millwoods Arena.
Ryley Morgan potted a pair and Ethan Leyer and Matt Savoie sniped singles.
Shots were 40-15 for the Sabres and Kyle Nelson was in net.
