The St. Albert Crusaders let their best-of-five series lead slip away last weekend on home ice in the Fountain Tire Cup final in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League playoffs.
The Peace River Royals knocked off the defending champions 4-1 in the deciding game Sunday after tying the series in Saturday’s 4-2 decision at Akinsdale Arena.
The previous weekend in Peace River, the Crusaders captured game one 6-4, lost game two 3-2 in overtime and game three ended with a 5-2 victory.
The Crusaders were outshot in all three games and the trend continued in game four by a 49-27 margin. In game five, the shots were even at 31 apiece.
The Crusaders opened the scoring in game four on goals by Tristen Gavin in the first period and Brendan Gervais early in the second before the Royals potted a pair before the period ended. The Royals struck on the power play with 6:11 left in the second to knot it at two and with 5:39 remaining in regulation time for the game winner. The insurance marker was deposited with 56 seconds to play.
In game five, the Royals made it 2-0 with a shorthanded effort at 5:14 of the second and Chance Szott cut the lead in half at 3:13 in the third.
The Royals responded with 5:48 to go and their empty-net tally with 20 ticks on the clock sealed the deal.
Gavin led all playoff scorers with 13 goals and 24 points in 13 games.
Connor Mckay (8-5, 2.86 GAA) of the Crusaders went the distance between the pipes in the final.
The Crusaders finished 42-17-4 overall with seven returnees from last year’s 50-10-6 team that beat the Royals 8-2 in the game five in Peace River.
In league play this season, 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 in St. Albert.
Netminder Tyler Bunz of St. Albert made his National Hockey League debut with the Edmonton Oilers in the third period of Thursday’s 8-2 loss against the Los Angeles Kings.
Bunz, 23, replaced Ben Scrivens to start the third, and the Oilers down 5-1 to the defending Stanley Cup champions at the Staples Centre. The former bantam AAA Sabre and midget AAA Raider stopped nine out of 12 shots and gave up goals 22 seconds apart. The first was a shot by Robyn Regehr that went off Matt Hendricks on its way past Bunz into the net. Marian Gaborik potted the second when the puck hit the tip of Bunz’s glove and bounced in before the four-minute mark.
Jeff Carter made it 8-1 at 9:21 on a breakaway by batting in his own rebound out of the air.
Bunz was an emergency call up from the Oklahoma City Barons in the American Hockey League to back-up Scrivens when Richard Bachman left the team because of a death in the family.
Bunz was assigned to the Barons on Sunday. The former Medicine Hat Tiger in the Western Hockey League started the season with the Wichita Thunder (6-10-1, 2.97 GAA, two shutouts and .890 save percentage) in the East Coast Hockey League before joining the Barons (five GA in 60 MP) as the backup to Laurent Brossoit.
Bunz was selected by the Oilers in the fifth round, 121st overall, in the 2010 NHL entry draft.
Colton Parayko of St. Albert recently signed a two-year entry-level contract with the St. Louis Blues after three seasons with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks.
The six-foot-four, 224-pound defenceman was assigned to the Chicago Wolves and in 10 games with the Blues’ affiliate in the American Hockey League he had three goals, one assist and was plus-six.
Parayko, 21, was selected by the Blues in the third round, 86th overall, in the 2012 NHL entry draft.
The Nanooks’ captain was named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s defensive player of the year for the consecutive season and was a WCHA first-team all-star. The former midget AA Crusader and Fort McMurray Oil Baron in the Alberta Junior Hockey League recorded six goals and 17 assists in his junior campaign and his 23 points in 34 games was the fourth-highest total among defencemen in the league.
Last season, Parayko received NCAA Second Team All-American honours.
Overall, the former Paul Kane High School student dressed in 104 games for the Nanooks and accumulated 66 points, including 17 goals and 49 assists.
The teams have been finalized for the third annual Donnie MAC Cup on Saturday at the Akinsdale and Kinex arenas.
The majority of the 56 players are products of the St. Albert minor hockey system.
The following players will join forces in the fight against lung cancer.
Team MAC Insurance: Brian Hooper, Kelly Wosnack, Terry Dabbagh, John Hooper, Jordan Chorneyko, Barrett Dupuis, Travis Dochuk, Tyler Schell, Lyndon Godlien, Chad Snihur, Mike Thompson, Jordan Hooper, Pete Christiansen and Sean Fisher.
Team MACSON: Jeff Filewich, Dion Lesczynski, Graham McMillan, Ryan Drake, Shawn Thompson, Paul Jowett, Steve Kinsey, Brian Muir, Brent Lydiatt, Jay Germain, Terry Hoffman, Troy Haymour, Shane Hordal and Corey Osland.
Team MAC Registries: Derek MacMillan, Miles Davis, Kyle Walton, Kurt Drummond, Jerald Pruner, Ryan Polny, Jay Herrick, Brody McIntyre, Bill Pratt, Curt Martin, Kelly Hilkewich, Connor Clarke, Curtis Crouse and Cory Cairns.
Team Remax Jay Herrick/Standard General: Mike Woodman, Jay Dolynny, Keir McIntyre, Dave Wood, Shayne Ferguson, Steve Jackson, Brett Smith, Chris Horvatis, Dan Daly, Chris Mcgeough, Colin Longpre, Grant Nicol, Sean Tymkow and Steve Hall.
The ceremonial face-off for the Donnie MAC Cup is 2 p.m. and the four-team tournament wraps up at 5 p.m.
The fundraiser honours the memory of Don MacMillan, a St. Albert resident who died of lung cancer on March 19, 2011 at age 61, as well as others who have succumbed to the disease.
The Donnie MAC Cup has raised almost $30,000 since its inception.
Donations can be made to [email protected]. They can also be dropped off at the event by cheque, cash or credit card or at MAC Insurance at #8, 44 Thomas Street in St. Albert and MAC Registries at 14228 Stony Plain Road.
Online donations are also accepted through the Donnie MAC Cup link at www.lungcancercanada.ca.
Raffle tickets can be purchased at the event to win donated items.
Balloon twisters and face painters will also be in attendance and Marc Cardinal of Palisades Dairy Queen is doing a barbecue with all proceeds going to the cause.
For more information, contact Derek MacMillan at 780-458-1441.
The Northwest roster for the ATB Alberta Cup features six bantam players from St. Albert.
Netminders Colton Girard and Mitchell Riedy, defencemen Jayden Platz and Dylan Wells and forwards Nicholas Leyer and Martin Rudolf were selected to play for the Northwest team at the April 29 to May 3 tournament in Canmore.
The competition for second-year bantams born in 2000 consists of 160 males on eight zone teams picked from more than the 700 hopefuls who attended zone camps the last weekend in March.
It’s also the last opportunity for the players to impress the scouts prior to the Western Hockey League’s bantam draft May 7.
Eighty players will also be invited to Hockey Alberta’s U16 camp in July for spots on Team Alberta at the Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup, Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 in Calgary.
