A preview of the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League final between the St. Albert Crusaders and Peace River Royals was staged Friday at the Hockey Alberta provincial tournament in Wainwright.
The score between the Crusaders (first in Clean Harbors division at 22-4-6) and Royals (first in Bear Slashing division at 23-8-1) in the pool A round robin was unavailable at press time.
The best-of-five NAMHL series starts next weekend at Akinsdale Arena. The Crusaders host game one Friday at 7:30 p.m., game two Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and game three Sunday at 12 p.m.
Games four and five, if needed, are scheduled for April 5 and 6 in Peace River.
In the playoffs the Crusaders are 6-1 and the Royals are 6-2.
In the best-of-three semifinals the Crusaders knocked off the undefeated KC Colts after losing the series opener 5-1 and the Royals defeated the Wainwright Polar Kings in the third and deciding game.
The Crusaders and Colts (28-0-4 in Inside Edge division) squared off Friday at provincials, but the score was also unavailable at press time.
In the league playoffs the Crusaders rebounded from losing game one to beat the Colts 2-1 in St. Albert and 6-1 at Confederation Arena for a shot at the league title.
In game two Elias Chaulk and Cam Mazur struck on the power play in the third period after the Colts opened the scoring in the first. Matt Havens assisted on both goals.
Shots were 35-34 for the Crusaders. In net was Connor Mckay.
In game three the Crusaders capitalized three times with the man advantage in the penalty-marred affair while posting period leads of 3-1 after the first and 6-1 after second.
Mazur potted a pair, Havens and Curtis Peck had one goal and two assists apiece and Tristan Gavin added two helpers.
Havens leads all playoff scorers with 17 points and is tied with Peck for the team lead in goals at seven apiece.
Christian Saive and Riley Smith also scored as the Crusaders peppered two KC netminders with 49 shots. Mckay (5-1, 1.67 GAA) finished the win with 41 saves.
At provincials today the Crusaders play the Okotoks Oilers and the host Polar Kings (second in Edmonton Kenworth division at 17-12-3).
The top teams in pools A and B advance to Sunday’s semifinals and the final is 3 p.m.
The round-robin draw in the Hockey Alberta peewee AA provincials wraps up today in St. Albert.
The 10-team tournament features the Sabres and Saints of St. Albert.
At 10:45 p.m. the Sabres play the Strathcona Warriors in pool B at Mark Messier Arena and the Saints face-off against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers in pool A at 2:15 p.m. at Northstar Hyundai Arena.
The tournament schedule is on page 43.
The top two teams in both pools qualify for Sunday’s semifinals at 8:30 a.m. at the Northstar Hyundai and Troy Murray arenas.
The final is 2:30 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The first playoff loss for the St. Albert Lady Raiders sets the stage for Saturday’s must-win game in the Alberta Major Bantam Female Hockey League’s best-of-three north division final.
Puck drop is 2:30 p.m. between the Raiders and Sherwood Park Royals at Akinsdale Arena.
Game three, if needed, is Sunday at 11 a.m. in Sherwood Park.
The winner will play the Rocky Mountain Raiders (20-1-3) of Cochrane or Red Deer Chiefs (10-10-4) from the south division for the AMBFHL championship.
The Royals won the series opener 1-0 Thursday in Sherwood Park. Shots were 31-15 for the home team.
In the north standings the Raiders (5-11-8) finished fourth out of five teams and the Royals (14-8-2) placed second behind the Edmonton Lightning (12-5-7) while recording the most wins in the division.
The Raiders were 1-4-5 in league play after the Christmas break and their first win in 2014 was the second-last game before the playoffs.
In the best-of-three playoffs the Raiders swept the Lloydminster Ice Cats (10-10-4) by scores of 5-2 and 4-3 and the Lightning 2-1 and 2-0.
In the semifinal series clincher against the Ice Cats, Sophie Lalor scored in period two and assisted on Reynolds MacKenzie’s goal in the third last Saturday in St. Albert.
Hannah Clark (4-1, 1.40 GAA, .950 save percentage) stopped a game-high 21 shots in the penalty-filled affair.
Lalor leads all playoff scorers with six goals and nine points and MacKenzie is second in team scoring with two goals and five points.
The only loss for the St. Albert Wolfpack at the Hockey Alberta bantam A provincials was in the semifinal against the Stettler Storm, the eventual tournament champion last weekend in Grande Prairie.
A deflection goal by the Storm with 2:11 left in regulation time was the 3-2 winner against the Wolfpack.
Patrick Charrois and Ethan Simmons scored and Darien Steele was in net as the Wolfpack outshot the Storm 36-16.
In the round robin the Wolfpack finished 4-0 with wins of 3-1 against the Lloydminster Blazers, 10-1 against the Grande Prairie Knights, 3-2 against the Red Deer Chiefs and 7-3 against Edmonton NSW.
Charrois was the team leader in points with 10 and Ryan Nault was the top goal scorer with six.
