Sunday the St. Albert Merchants play the Edmonton Mustangs in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Faceoff is 8 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
The Merchants (10-8-1) were nine points ahead of the Mustangs (6-15) in the west standings before hosting the Founders Cup playoff champion North Edmonton Red Wings (13-5-1) Friday at Akinsdale Arena. The score was unavailable at press time.
The Merchants were 0-2-1 in their last three games after Wednesday’s 4-2 loss to the Stony Plain Flyers (9-7-3) at Glenn Hall Centennial Arena.
It was 2-1 Merchants as Jake Mercier potted a pair before the Flyers closed out the first period with goals on the power play at 12:57 and shorthanded at 14:48 for the 3-2 lead.
The Flyers scored the insurance marker at 11:27 of the third.
The Merchants, 5-4-1 on the road, were outshot 14-6 in the first and 39-27 overall. In net was Ryen Papirny (7-5, 3.96 GAA).
The result lifted the Flyers into a fourth-place tie with the Merchants.
The next home game for the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres is Sunday in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
Puck drop is 10:45 a.m. against the Calgary Bisons at Akinsdale Arena.
The nitro north division Sabres were 14-0 as the top AMBHL team before Friday’s contest against the Red Wings (10-2-4) in Camrose. The score was unavailable at press time.
The Bisons were also the Challenger south division leaders at 10-4-3 entering their weekend road trip against north division teams.
The Bisons will join the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers, Lethbridge Golden Hawks, Red Deer Rebels and the host Sabres as the AMBHL teams at the John Reid Memorial Tournament, Jan. 19 to 22 at Servus Credit Union Place.
The Okanagan Hockey Academy in Edmonton, Rink Hockey Academy of Winnipeg, Notre Dame Hounds, Burnaby Winter Club Bruins, Delta Hockey Academy Wild, Pursuit of Excellence Academy of Kelowna, Yale Hockey Academy of Abbotsford, Toronto Marlboros, Colorado Thunderbirds, Rocky Mountain Roughriders of Colorado and Phoenix Jr. Coyotes will also participated in the 39th annual St. Albert bantam AAA tournament.
Visit www.johnreidmemorial.com for tournament updates.
Meanwhile, Ethan Leyer of the Sabres was tied for the AMBHL lead in goals with 20 and shared fourth place in points with 36 after 14 games.
Captain Mike Benning was also the top-scoring defenceman with 25 points.
Ethan Barwick’s 1.52 GAA ranked first among AMBHL netminders and Kyle Nelson was fourth at 2.03 GAA.
Barwick (6-0) was also tied for the most shutouts with three.
