The Morinville Jets are flying high during a seven-game winning streak in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
The 12th victory in 13 games for the west division leaders was Sunday’s 5-1 result against the Leduc Riggers at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
The offensive was supplied by Lee Gadoury’s hat-trick, a pair of goals by Riley Van Brabant and two assists each for Michael Woloshyn, Brett Dubuc and Scott Woloshyn.
The Jets (16-4-4) were credited with 43 shots and Jaedon McConnell (7-0) was tested 31 times by Leduc (6-15-2).
The Jets are now four points ahead of the Beverly Warriors (16-6) and six in front of the Founders Cup playoff champion North Edmonton Red Wings (14-6-2). Both teams have two games in hand on the CJHL’s overall co-leader.
Last week the Jets clipped the Red Wings 5-4 as Gadoury’s hat-trick marker was the OT winner and McConnell stopped a game-high 41 shots at Londonderry Arena.
McConnell is the CJHL’s top netminder with a 1.69 GAA.
Tyler Hagel is the league leader in goals with 30 and is third in points with 48 in 21 games.
Dubuc’s 16 goals and 40 points and Gadoury’s 19 goals and 36 points also rank among the CJHL’s most productive offensive players.
The Jets resume their winning ways Friday in Sherwood Park against the Knights (6-15-2) at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday against the Wetaskiwin Icemen (15-5-2) at 6:45 p.m. in Morinville.
A pair of overtime losses last weekend left the Merchants with five points in their last six games in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
The Merchants (11-9-3) settled for a point in the 5-4 setback against the Leduc Riggers (6-15-2) Friday and the 7-6 outcome with the Beverly Warriors (16-6) Sunday.
The Riggers scored the OT winner on the power play with Mike Bruni of the Merchants in the box for high sticking with 1:01 left in regulation time.
Jake Mercier’s second goal of the night tied it at four on the power play with 4:02 to play in Leduc.
Mason Kenny made it 2-1 in the first period and Cam Mazur evened the score at three in the middle frame.
Shots were 39-31 for the Riggers and Ryen Papirny was in net
Papirny (7-8, 4.47 GAA) also tended the twine against Beverly and faced 41 shots as the Warriors potted a pair late in the game, including the tying marker with four seconds to go before capping off the comeback in OT.
The Merchants led 3-2 after the first and 5-4 entering the third during the back-and-forth affair at Akinsdale Arena.
Mercier and Matt Havens potted a pair each.
Mazur and Steve Knobloch also scored as the Merchants were credited with 34 shots.
Havens is the team leader in goals with 14 and in points with 40 for a share of fifth-place in the CJHL scoring race. Havens is also tied for the league lead in assists with 26.
This weekend the Merchants skate at home against the Strathcona Bruins (6-16-1) at 8 p.m. and Sunday’s game against the Spruce Grove Flyers (10-10-3) is 8:30 p.m. at Glenn Hall Centennial Arena.
The fourth win in five games for the St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders was recorded against the south division leaders in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
The first loss of the season for the Foothills Bisons (17-1-2) of Strathmore was Sunday’s 3-1 decision at Akinsdale Arena as the Raiders (8-11-1) improved to 3-6-1 against the south this season.
Garrett Clegg opened the scoring in the second period with his team-leading 14th goal and 23rd point and Owen Churko made it 2-0 on the power at 1:36 of the third.
The Bisons cut the lead in half at the 11:55 mark and Aidan closed out the win into an empty net with one tick on the clock.
Shots were 36-32 for the Bisons and Chris Curr (7-7, 2.73 GAA) was the winning netminder.
The Raiders were coming off a 4-1 loss to the Maple Leafs (6-12-1) Saturday at Bill Hunter Arena.
Zane Avery scored and Mitchell Reidy (1-4-1, 4.07 GAA) and Curr split net duties. Reidy let in three goals on 18 shots and Curr gave up one goal on 10 shots.
The Raiders are stuck in a four-way logjam for second place in the north standings and the first-place Sherwood Park Kings (15-2-3) are the only team in the division with a winning record.
The Raiders are in Calgary this weekend to play the Flames (11-7-1) Saturday at Father David Bauer Arena and the Northstars (9-8-1) Sunday at Max Bell Centre. Game times are 2:30 p.m.
The undefeated St. Albert Flyers wrap up their six-game homestand this weekend with a pair of afternoon affairs.
The midget 15 Flyers (16-0) host the SSAC Bulldogs (9-5-2) at 4:15 p.m. Saturday and the CAC (6-6-3) at 3:45 p.m. Sunday at Akinsdale Arena.
The Flyers were 5-0 on home ice before Tuesday’s contest against the visiting Maple Leafs (2-13-2). The score was unavailable at press time.
The north division leaders in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League set a season high single game goal-scoring mark in Saturday’s 12-5 triumph against CRAA Blue (7-6-4) of the south division.
The Flyers posted period leads of 2-1 and 6-2.
Stuart Dovey racked up four goals and two assists, captain Blake Sydlowski tallied twice and Jaron Coles, Justin MacDonald, Kye Buchanan, Tanner Fincaryk, Cam Aucoin (power play) and Erik Boers also scored.
Sydlowski (39 points) was first and Dovey (29 points) was tied for sixth in the AMMHL entering Tuesday’s game
In team scoring, Sydlowski’s 17 goals were one more than Dovey’s total and Boers was third with 10.
The Flyers registered 32 shots against a pair of netminders and Ryley Osland (9-0, 1.44 GAA) stopped 25 shots.
Saturday’s hat-tricks by Ryley Morgan and Austin Spiridakis catapulted the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres to their 17th win in 18 games in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
Spiridakis finished the 8-2 drubbing over the Lloydminster Heat (4-13-2) with six points and Morgan collected five in total.
Matthew Savoie and Matthew Reidy put the Sabres on the board in the first period before Morgan potted three in a row and Spiridakis followed with three straight.
Carter Savoie also drew three assists.
The shot count was 33-24 for the Sabres and Ethan Barwick (7-0, 1.58 GAA) was between the pipes.
The Sabres (17-0-1) are in Sherwood Park on Saturday to play the Flyers (8-8-5) at 1 p.m. and Sunday’s home game against the Calgary Flames (7-7-5) starts at 10:45 a.m.
The Sabres were 16-0 before last week’s 5-5 draw with the Flyers in St. Albert.
