The result of tonight’s deciding playoff game between the Beverly Warriors and Edmonton Mustangs will determine who the Morinville Jets will square-off against in the Capital Junior B Hockey League quarter-finals.
The Jets will host the Stony Plain Flyers or Mustangs in the best-of-five series and game one goes Friday at 8:30 p.m. at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
The rest of the series schedule was unavailable at press time.
The Jets (27-7-4, 188 GF/123 GA) finished first in the west division for a bye in the best-of-three qualifying round.
The second-place North Edmonton Red Wings (25-9-4), winners of the last two Founders Cup playoff championships, also received a spot in the quarter-finals.
Beverly (24-13-1) placed third, Stony Plain (17-18-3) was fifth and the Mustangs (10-27-1) were sixth in the standings.
The Jets march into the playoffs as winners of five in a row and eight of their last 10 games.
Tyler Hagel led the league in scoring with 47 goals and 75 points in 32 games after posting four goals and two assists in the last game before the playoffs, 9-6 over the Mustangs last week in Morinville.
Brett Dubuc was third in points with 68 as the league’s top playmaker with 43 assists in 38 games after collecting two goals and four assists against the Mustangs.
Lee Gadoury also registered two goals and three assists in the win for 31 goals and 60 points in 38 games.
Merch Madness ended sooner than expected for the St. Albert Merchants in the Capital Junior B Hockey League playoffs.
The Merchants (18-16-4, 147 GF/173 GA) went down to defeat at the hands of the Stony Plain Flyers (17-18-3, 144 GF/179 GA) by scores of 9-3 Friday in St. Albert and 5-3 Sunday at Glenn Hall Centennial Arena.
The Merchants were outshot 13-12 in the first period, 22-9 in the second, 26-9 in the third and 61-30 overall in the series opener.
The Flyers racked up four unanswered goals in the third, including their second power-play tally of the game.
The Flyers also struck shorthanded at 8:25 of the second to break a 2-2 tie.
Sam Milner, Thomas Rotundo and Cam Mazur scored for the Merchants.
Ryen Papirny (six GA on 40 shots in 43 minutes) and Ethan Crotty (three GA on 21 shots in 17 minutes) shared netminding duties.
In game two, goals 11 seconds apart by Matt Havens and Rotundo tied it at two in the first and Mazur made it 3-3 in the second. Daniel Spatafora and Ryan Copper chipped in with two assists apiece.
The Flyers netted the winner at 8:48 of the third.
Shots were 20-6 in the third and 53-20 overall for the Merchants as Papirny (0-2, 6.41 GAA) went the distance.
The St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders wrap up the regular season in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League in Saturday’s home date at Akinsdale Arena.
Game time is 1:45 p.m. against the Maple Leafs (9-17-6).
The Raiders (16-14-3) are 8-6-1 at the Akinsdale rink.
The Raiders have a first-round bye as the second-place team in the north division and will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-five north semifinals.
Last weekend the Raiders rallied to tie the SEAC Tigers (8-18-6) 4-4 in Medicine Hat and lost 5-0 to the Foothills Bisons (23-6-3), ranked second in the south division.
Garrett Clegg’s second goal of the game and 20th of the season knotted the score at four against the Tigers on the power play with under five minutes to play.
Clegg shares the league lead in goals and is the team’s top scorer with 31 points in 31 games.
Spencer Augot (power play) and Brady Nicholas also scored and Aidan Steinke and Logan Hunter added two assists apiece.
Shots were 17-6 in the third period and 41-29 overall for the Raiders. In net was Chris Curr (11-8-2, 2.53 GAA).
The Raiders were outshot 29-19 by the Bisons in Strathmore while giving up three goals in the first, including a power-play marker, and the second of two goals in the middle period was scored shorthanded. Mitchell Reidy (5-6-1, 3.64 GAA) was between the pipes.
It’s the first loss in 2017 for the Raiders after going 7-0-2.
Two losses in two days grounded the St. Albert Flyers last weekend in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.
The midget 15 Flyers (29-3-1) suffered setbacks of 3-2 to the PAC Saints (23-9) at Glenn Hall Centennial Arena and 4-2 to the KC Centennials (22-9-2) in St. Albert.
Tuesday’s score against the visiting Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (6-23-3) was unavailable at press time.
The Flyers remain first in the north division and the Lethbridge Hurricanes (24-1-6) are the top team in the south standings.
The third loss in seven games for the Flyers was against KC.
Kyle Fulton and Cam Aucoin potted goals as the Flyers outshot KC 42-22.
The fourth KC goal was deposited into an empty net.
Ryley Osland (15-2-1, 1.73 GAA) was tagged with the loss.
Evan Fradette (14-1, 1.13 GAA) was the netminder against the Saints as the shot count favoured the Flyers 38-23.
The Saints tallied the winner with under nine minutes remaining after Brett Bamber tied it at two on the power play early in the third period.
Tyler Pitre also scored and Logan McKinley picked up two assists.
Saturday the Flyers are in Sherwood Park to play the Squires at 3:45 p.m.
The Flyers were winners of 21 in a row before the 2-2 draw with the Squires (24-6-4) Dec. 20 in St. Albert.
The midget AAA St. Albert Slash returned home from last weekend’s road trip with two wins.
The Slash defeated the Rocky Mountain Raiders 4-3 in Dewinton and blanked the Calgary Fire 3-0 in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
The shutout was the team’s sixth of the season and the fourth for Brianna Sank (10-0-1, 1.34 GAA). The Ardrossan product was tested 25 times by the Fire (10-13-1).
The first-place Slash (21-2-1) enjoy a break in the schedule before playing three games in three days, starting with a pair against the second-place Raiders (14-7-2) on Feb. 24 at 8:15 p.m. in Airdrie and Feb. 25 at 2:15 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
The Slash and Fire also face-off Feb. 26 at 1:30 p.m. in St. Albert.
Meanwhile, Slash players ranked among the league’s top scorers. Madison Willan of Edmonton has generated a league-high 17 goals and 35 points. Tyra Meropoulis of Edson is second in goals with 16 and Cassidy Maplethorpe of Wetaskiwin is second in points with 33, two more than Maplethorpe.
The top two north division bantam elite teams in the Alberta Female Hockey League split last weekend’s homestand at Go Auto Arena.
Scores were 3-2 for the Lloydminster Steelers (15-3-4) and 4-3 in a shootout for the St. Albert Raiders (19-3-1).
The Raiders have recorded two wins and one loss after their 2-1 shootout loss to the Peace Country Storm (2-18-2) Jan. 29 in St. Albert that ended the team’s 15-game winning streak.
Libby Langenhahn and Jessica Kormysh lead the Raiders in scoring with 17 points apiece and Langenhahn is the team leader in goals with 14.
Saturday the Raiders host the Sherwood Park Royals (15-6-2) at 7:30 p.m. at Go Auto Arena and Sunday’s game against the North Central Impact (8-13) starts at 12:30 p.m. in Leduc.
The Morinville Kings are behind the eight-ball in the best-of-five semifinal against the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the North Central Senior AA Hockey League.
The Kings are down 2-0 in the series after last weekend’s 6-4 loss in Bonnyville.
The Kings also dropped the opening game 5-4 in overtime in Morinville.
Game three goes Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
If needed, game four is Feb. 24 at Bonnyville and game five is Feb. 25 at Morinville and the start times are 8:30 p.m.
Kyle Harris, Jorey Mcrae, Luc VanDale and Jamie Johnson scored in Bonnyville.
Shots were even at 43 apiece and Ty Swabb (2-2, 4.39 GAA) was in net.
Harris leads the Kings in playoff scoring with eight goals and 10 points.
The Kings (15-3) and Pontiacs (14-3-1) finished second and third, respectively, in league play and the teams split the season series with wins at home of 8-3 for the Pontiacs on Oct. 22 and 9-5 for the Kings on Dec. 10.
The Kings won the best-of-five opening playoff round against the Rocky Rams (5-10-3) after the Rams forfeited game three in Morinville.
