Ethan Crotty backstopped the St. Albert Merchants to their third win in a row Sunday after coming off the bench to help defeat the Morinville Jets in Friday’s shootout.
Crotty blocked 26 shots in the 5-4 decision against the Edmonton Royals at Confederation Arena in his second start of the season.
Two nights earlier, Crotty (1-1, 5.17 GAA) replaced starter Ryen Papirny midway through the first period and the Jets up 3-1 at Akinsdale Arena. The first-year Merchant finished with 24 saves, including five in the five-minute overtime and stonewalled three Jets in the shootout for the 7-6 win.
Stephen Cretain of the Merchants sniped the only shootout goal.
The Jets led 4-1 after the first on Tyler Hagel’s hat-trick and Brett Dubuc’s goal.
The Merchants answered with two by Cam Mazur and singles by Matt Havens and Ryan Cooper in the second stanza.
Hagel’s fourth goal and fifth point tied it at six at 12:21 of the third.
Riley Van Brabant of the Jets knot it at five at 4:01 and Haven’s third goal and fourth point put the Merchants back on top at 6-5 at 7:54.
The spirited affair featured a couple of fights. Overall, the Jets were assessed 94 penalty minutes on 18 infractions, including a whopping 53 minutes to Scott Woloshyn and the bulk of his penalties stemmed from a third-period fracas at 4:45. The Merchants were tagged for 39 minutes.
On the power play, Havens and Mazur capitalized once and Hagel also scored with the man advantage.
Cooper and Havens finished with four points apiece.
Lawrence Rosychuk (1-3, 3.60 GAA) of the Jets faced 31 shots.
The Jets (2-1-3) went on lose another shootout, 4-3 to the Sherwood Park Knights (2-4) Sunday in Morinville.
Dubuc found the back of the net twice for six goals on the season and Hagel scored his eighth in four games. Hagel and Dubuc are the team’s leading point producers with 14 and nine, respectively.
The Jets were outshot 45-39 and Colton Kucher (1-1, 2.88 GAA) tended the twine.
Meanwhile, Thomas Rotundo sparked the offence against the Royals (5-1) with two goals in the first and Cooper made it 3-2 at 14:33 of the second.
Cooper is the team’s top scorer with five goals and 12 points.
Mazur and Liam Thomas added to the lead before the Royals rallied for goals at 18:37 on the power play and 19:32.
Maverick Fewchuk, Brenden Passek and Jake Mercier contributed two assists each to the cause.
The Merchants were credited with 33 shots overall.
Friday the Merchants (4-1) are in Sherwood Park to play the Knights at 8:30 p.m. and the Jets travel to Beaumont to play the Chiefs (5-1) at 8:30 p.m.
The St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders split their season-opening weekend in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
The Raiders won 5-3 against the Canadian Athletic Club at Bill Hunter Arena and lost 2-1 to the Southside Athletic Club at Akinsdale Arena.
Xavier Halterman, Jack Langenhahn, Aidan Steinke, Peter Michailides and Brady Nicholas scored against the CAC.
Shots were 35 apiece and Chris Curr was in net.
Michailides broke a scoreless stalemate at home with a power-play marker in the second and the Southside (2-0) replied with two even-strength markers in the third.
The Raiders were out-shot 28-19 and Curr was the goaltender.
This weekend at the Akinsdale rink the Raiders skate Saturday against the SEAC Tigers (0-1-1) of Medicine Hat at 8 p.m. and Sunday’s game against the CAC (0-2) starts at 1:15 p.m.
The red-hot St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres were the only undefeated team in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League before Tuesday’s home game.
The score against the Leduc Oil Kings (0-3-1) was unavailable at press time.
The fourth win in a row after going undefeated in seven pre-season contests was Sunday’s 7-2 decision against the Lloydminster Heat (2-2) in the Border City.
It was 4-2 Sabres entering the third period after the first was scoreless.
The opening three goals by the Sabres were listed as shorthanded on the game sheet, with Matt Savoie scoring twice and Carter Savoie also connecting in a 2:01-minute span.
Two goals by Austin Spiridakis and singles by Ryley Morgan and Tyson Greenway rounded out the scoring. Mathieu Gautier drew two assists.
The Sabres outshot the Heat 49-29 and Kyle Nelson was in net.
The Heat were assessed four gross misconduct calls, a bench minor and a four-minute hit to the head penalty with 1:08 to go and the Sabres received a rough minor.
Friday the Sabres blanked the Canadian Athletic Club 7-0 as Ethan Barwick stopped 14 shots.
Matt Savoie rolled up three goals and two assists and Mike Benning had three helpers.
Spiridakis struck twice and Ethan Leyer and Marc Lajoie notched singles during a 51-shot barrage against the CAC (1-2).
Sunday the Sabres host the Maple Leafs (0-3) at 5 p.m.
The St. Albert Slash swept the Red Deer Chiefs in last weekend’s midget AAA season opener in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
Scores were 2-1 in Red Deer and 3-0 in St. Albert.
Cassidy Maplethorpe of Westlock and Jayme Doyle of Calahoo scored in Red Deer.
It was 2-0 after 40 minutes and the Chiefs tallied 29 seconds into the third.
Shots were 20-13 for the Slash and Camryn Drever of Edmonton was in net.
Madison Willan of Edmonton potted a pair, Doyle also scored and Tyra Meropoulis of Edson added two assists in the rematch.
The Slash outshot the visitors 28-23 and Drever posted the shutout.
The next game is Thursday versus the Edmonton Pandas (1-1) at 7:45 p.m. Go Auto Arena.
Local players on the Slash roster include forwards’ Isabelle Lajoie of St. Albert, MacKenzie Reynolds of Gibbons, Makenna Schuttler of Sturgeon County and Doyle.
The midget 15 St. Albert Flyers outscored the Grande Peace Storm 17-2 in last weekend’s doubleheader in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.
Scores were 7-2 and 10-0 in Grande Prairie to kick-off league play.
Erik Boers and Carson Henry led the way in game one with two-goal efforts and Tanner Fincaryk chipped in with three assists.
The shot count was 52-20 for the Flyers and Evan Fradette was between the pipes.
Henry, Stuart Dovey and Cameron Aucion paced the attack in game two with a pair each. Dovey, Brett Bamber, Blake Sydlowski, Matt Offenberge and Dominik Cesarz had two assists apiece.
The Flyers outshot the Storm 43-19 and Ryley Osland recorded the shutout.
The first home game is Tuesday against the PAC Saints at 8:15 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The senior AA Morinville Kings make their home debut Saturday in the North Central Hockey League.
Faceoff is 8:30 p.m. against the first-year Eckville Eagles at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
The Kings started league play with a big 9-2 road victory against the Slave Lake Winterhawks last weekend.
Kyle Harris and Lyndin Lewis racked up four points apiece as the Kings posted period leads of 3-0 and 7-2.
Harris netted the hat-trick, Lewis and Ashton Pietersma tallied twice and Keegan Arcand and Tyler Reay also scored.
Shots were 44-29 for the Kings and Ty Swabb was in net.
