The junior B St. Albert Merchants wrapped up league play before the Christmas break with their first loss of the month in regulation time.
The Merchants (13-10-4) finished 2-3-1 in December after Friday’s 8-6 setback to the Edmonton Mustangs (13-10-4) at Akinsdale Arena.
The result left the Merchants in fourth place in the west standings while averaging four goals per game and 4.44 against.
The Mustangs made it 7-6 in the third period and 34 seconds after, Mason Kenny pulled the Merchants even at six at 14:09.
The last goal for the Mustangs was deposited into an empty net.
Matt Havens, Mike Bruni and Ryan Copper pumped in goals in the first frame and Connor Tupala and Matt Havens converted power-play chances in the opening eight minutes of the second to put the Merchants up 5-2.
The second goal for Havens was his 20th of the season and 48th point in 27 games.
The Mustangs closed out the middle period with three unanswered goals to knot it at five.
Shots were 34-33 for the Mustangs and in net for the Merchants was Ryen Papirny (7-9, 4.64 GAA).
The Merchants have 11 games on tap in the new year, starting Jan. 6 against the first-place Morinville Jets (18-5-4) at 8 p.m. in St. Albert. The Merchants are 6-6-1 on home ice.
The Morinville Jets were the top team in the west division of the Capital Junior B Hockey League with one game left before the holiday break.
Tuesday’s score against the last-place Spruce Grove Regals (7-18-2) at Ray McDonald Sports Centre was unavailable at press time.
The 11th win in 13 games for the Jets (18-5-4) was Sunday’s 5-4 overtime affair against the Fort Saskatchewan Hawks (16-8-3) in Morinville.
Jorden Rooke fired his ninth goal of the season in the extra period after Joshua Perrott (ninth) and Brett Dubuc (18th) rallied the Jets in the third to force overtime.
Lee Gadoury (21st) and Riley Van Brabant (seventh) also connected and Rooke added two assists.
The Hawks outshot the Jets 16-9 in the third and 39-28 overall.
Colton Kucher (10-4, 3.01 GAA) backstopped the Jets to their 10th home win in 13 games.
The sixth win in nine games for the St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders was registered Sunday in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
Mitchell Reidy (2-5-1, 4.50 GAA) stopped a game-high 34 shots and captain Sam Smith-Ackerl, Garrett Clegg and Logan Hunter scored in the 3-1 result against the Calgary Buffaloes (16-3-4) at Akinsdale Arena.
The Raiders (10-13-1) enter the Christmas holidays tied for second in the north division with the Southside Athletic Club (10-13-1) and Leduc Oil Kings (9-11-3).
The Raiders started the weekend with Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Grande Peace Storm (8-11-4) in St. Albert.
The Storm struck twice on the power play and the Raiders capitalized three times with the man advantage as Brady Nicholas, Spencer Augot and Smith-Ackerl lit the lamp. Augot also added two assists.
Shots were 37-31 for the Raiders and Chris Curr (8-8, 2.69 GAA) was tagged with the loss.
The first game in 2017 for the Raiders is Jan. 7 against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (5-14-5) at 1:45 p.m. in St. Albert.
The St. Albert Flyers were 21-0 in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League before Tuesday’s contest at Akinsdale Arena.
The score against the Sherwood Park Squires (15-3-2) was unavailable at press time.
Leading up to the last game before the Christmas break, the Flyers posted road wins of 4-1 against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (4-15-1) and 5-2 against the Camrose Red Wings (4-11-5).
Stuart Dovey tallied twice and Tyler Pitre and Cam Aucoin also scored against the Rangers.
Dominik Cesarz and captain Blake Sydlowski picked up two assists apiece.
The Flyers outshot the Rangers 54-25 and Ryley Osland (11-0, 1.45 GAA) was between the pipes.
Evan Fradette (10-0, 0.80 GAA) faced 16 shots in Camrose as Jaron Coles, Erik Boers, Aucoin, Cesarz and Sydlowski scored on 35 shots.
Dovey drew three assists and Cesarz had two helpers.
The Flyers ring in the new year Jan. 10 against the CAC (8-8-3) at 8:15 p.m. in St. Albert.
The midget AAA St. Albert Slash spread the scoring around in their 15th win in 16 games in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
Tyra Meropoulis of Edson, Shyla Kirwer of Sherwood Park, Cassidy Maplethorpe of Wetaskiwin and Madison Willan of Edmonton found the back of the net in Saturday’s 4-1 victory over the Calgary Fire (6-9-1) at Max Bell Centre.
Camryn Drever (8-0, 1.50 GAA) of Edmonton faced 27 shots in the first game for the Slash (15-0-1) since their 5-4 shootout loss to the Edmonton Pandas (7-12) Dec. 11 at Bill Hunter Arena.
The Slash and Calgary cross paths again during the Jan. 6-7 homestand at Go Auto Arena.
The second shutout in a row and fifth in seven games for the bantam elite St. Albert Raiders was registered Sunday by the north division leaders in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
Elle Boyko (7-1, 1.16 GAA) was tested 24 times while posting her second shutout of the season in the 3-0 win over the Olds Grizzlys (10-4) at Go Auto Arena.
Libby Langenhahn, Jessica Kormysh and Tayler Premak scored as the Raiders (12-2) extended their winning streak to 10 games.
The day before at Mark Messier Arena, Holly Borrett (5-1, 0.72 GAA) turned aside 15 shots for her third shutout and Kamea Brezovski supplied the offence in the 1-0 decision against the North Central Impact (7-7).
The next game is Jan. 7 against the Lethbridge Cyclones (6-8) at 2:30 p.m. in St. Albert.
Three games remain for the Morinville Kings before the playoffs start in the North Central Senior Hockey League.
The Kings (12-3) are third in the standings after their sixth win in a row while going 6-2 on home ice in Saturday’s 8-5 outcome against the Edson Ice (5-10) at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
Thomas Brennan, Kyle Harris and Wayne Gatza potted a pair each and Joshua Lafleche and Ashton Pietersma notched singles.
Harris added three assists and Pietersma, Gerald Desjarlais and Zachary Carr each had two helpers.
Harris and Brennan share the team lead in scoring with 26 points.
The shot count was 50-30 for the Kings and Ty Clelland (4-1, 5.25 GAA) was in net.
League play resumes Jan. 9 against the Whitecourt Wild (5-5-2) at 3:30 p.m. in Mayerthorpe.
