Eight goals weren’t enough for the St. Albert Merchants to defeat the Edmonton Mustangs in Sunday’s junior B scorefest at Bill Hunter Arena.
The Mustangs out-scored the Merchants 5-1 in the second period to led 7-3 and in the third netted a pair seven minutes apart on the power play to make it 9-6. The fifth and last goal in the third by the Merchants was Dan Rombough’s power-play marker with 6:19 left in regulation time as the Mustangs hung on for the 9-8 decision.
It was the first loss after three wins to start the season for the 2014 Founders Cup finalists and fourth-place team at provincials.
Liam McNamara racked up three power-play goals and added two assists in a losing cause.
Rombough potted a pair and picked up two assists, Blair Macuch had one goal and two assists and Casey Reid helped set-up three goals. Jared Kwasney and Thomas Rotundo also sniped singles as the Merchants registered 26 shots.
Ethan Maertens-Poole started his third straight game and was tagged for five goals on 12 shots. His replacement, William Fink, gave up four goals on eight shots.
Sandon Hunter, a former Merchant, was among four Mustangs with two goals apiece.
The Mustangs (3-0-1) went three-for-12 on the power play and the Merchants were 4-for-10.
The Merchants were nailed for 12 infractions for 40 minutes and the Mustangs were penalized 10 times for 28 minutes.
The Merchants opened the weekend with a 3-1 win over the Edmonton Royals (2-2) at Akinsdale Arena. McNamara, Rotundo and Jordan MacPhee scored and Maertens-Poole stopped 20 shots.
Friday the Merchants host the Spruce Grove Regals (1-3) at 8 p.m.
Wednesday the Merchants face-off against the Beverly Warriors (2-1) at 8 p.m. at Londonderry Arena.
The St. Albert Slash scored seven goals but was shut-out twice in three games over three days at the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League showcase weekend in Lethbridge.
The Slash lost 1-0 to the Lloydminster Steelers, blanked the Southeast Tigers 7-0 and dropped a 2-0 decision to the first-place Deer Chiefs, the host team for the 2015 Esso Cup national championship.
The Slash outshot the Steelers 35-21 as the Border City team scored in the third period against netminder Natalie Bender.
Slash netminder Erynn Shantz faced only nine shots against the Tigers as Kennedy Davidson tallied twice and Breanna Jones, Ashlee Drevant, Kyrelle Skoye, Rachel Rochat and Jamie Jones also scored during a 39-shot barrage.
Bender let in both goals against Red Deer (5-0-2) on 15 shots and Shantz was tested eight times in the last 35 minutes of play. The Slash were credited with 29 shots.
The Slash (4-4) host the Tigers (1-6) Saturday at 7:45 p.m. at Go Auto Arena and Sunday they travel to Lloydminster to play the Steelers (2-4) at 1:30 p.m.
The St. Albert Sabres chase their first win of the season when the bantam AAA team plays the Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Puck drop is 4 p.m. at Castledowns Arena.
The Sabres are 0-2-1 after Sunday’s 6-4 loss to the SSAC Southgate Lions at Millwoods Arena.
The Sabres trailed 3-1 at the end of the first and 4-3 entering the third before pulling even with 16:10 to play.
Dylan Wells, Kyle Gilowski, Cole Gupta and Noah Fayad scored and Mitchell Reidy stopped 39 shots.
