The St. Albert Crusaders will defend their Fountain Tire Cup championship against the team they beat in last year’s Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League final.
The best-of-five series between the Crusaders and Peace River Royals starts next weekend with three games scheduled in Peace River.
If needed, the fourth and fifth games will be played April 4 and 5 at Akinsdale Arena.
Last year the Crusaders needed five games to knock off the Royals to finish 50-10-6 overall as the first St. Albert team to win the playoff championship in the four-year history of the rebranded NAMHL.
In league play the Royals (25-7) and Crusaders (22-6-4) placed first in their respective divisions and in January it was 6-0 for Peace River over St. Albert at Go Auto Arena.
In the best-of-three league semifinals the Royals swept the Beaumont Braves (18-11-3) and the Crusaders scored two unanswered goals in the third period to edge SSAC Don Wheaton 5-4 in game three Sunday at Akinsdale.
Affiliate player Peter Corrigan tied it at four halfway through the period and Tristen Gavin’s second goal of the night and fifth of the playoffs with 1:51 remaining was the series winner.
Bryce Sturm and Kris Kraychy also scored as the Crusaders led 2-1 after the first but trailed 4-3 after two periods.
Brendan Bow also picked up two assists as the Crusaders improved to 6-2 in the playoffs.
Shots were 38-32 for SSAC (21-7-4) as Connor Mckay backstopped the Crusaders to their second win in a row after the team dropped the series opener 7-3 in St. Albert.
Mckay posted the 5-0 game two shutout with 21 saves Saturday at Confederation Arena to even the series.
Sturm and Sam Milner potted a pair each, Mattias Neset also scored and Matt Laird and Chance Szott added two assists apiece.
The league semifinal marked the second best-of-three series in a row the Crusaders rallied from an opening game loss to advance in the playoffs.
The first-place St. Albert Royals staved off elimination in the best-of-five Rural & Edmonton Midget 15 AA Hockey League final Monday at Akinsdale Arena.
The 5-2 victory against third-place SSAC Dolce Vita Homes set-up Tuesday’s game four clash at Confederation Arena. The score was unavailable at press time.
Game five, if needed, is 7 p.m. Thursday at Akinsdale.
SSAC (21-8-1) put the Royals (23-4-3) on the brink of elimination with wins of 6-4 in St. Albert and 2-1 at Confederation.
Both teams were 5-0 in the playoffs going into the final and in league play they split their four-game season series.
Meanwhile, 14 Royals were chosen to participate in Saturday night’s opening ceremonies at the Red Bull Crashed Ice in Edmonton as flag bearers.
Rehearsals were staged Thursday, Friday and early Saturday morning with seven runs down the track.
Carrying the flags of 13 countries, plus the Alberta flag, were Jett Bland, Tanner Brooks, Braden Bourgeois, Landon Christoffel, Christian Foote, Adam Girard, Logan Hunter, Michael Knoblauch, Brendan Laycock, Daniel Lewis, Christian McDonald, Josh Porter, Justin Roy and Seth Summers.
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the team picture of the flag bearers.
