The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres are on the brink of elimination in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League playoffs after finishing first overall in the regular season.
The Sabres have to beat the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers in the next three games in the best-of-five north regional series for a shot at winning the AMBHL provincial championship.
The Sabres host game three today at 1:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
If needed, game four is 2:30 p.m. Sunday at JRC Arena and game five is 8:15 p.m. Tuesday at Akinsdale Arena.
The winner plays the Lethbridge Golden Hawks or Calgary Bisons in the best-of-five AMBHL provincial final starting next Saturday.
The Alberta champion advances to westerns, March 30 to April 2 in Warman and Martensville, Sask.
The Nitro north division Sabres are 4-3 in the playoffs after going 31-1-4 (214 GF/77 GA) in league play and the last two losses were against the Rangers by scores of 4-2 Wednesday in St. Albert and 2-1 in overtime Thursday in Fort Saskatchewan.
The Rangers, 6-0 in the playoffs after going 27-7-2 (176 GF/83 GA) as the top team in the Charger north division, scored four goals in a row in game one, including a natural hat-trick by Jesse Burchart, before captain Mike Benning and Drew Kuzma replied for the Sabres in the third period.
Shot were 29-23 for the Sabres.
Game two was decided on Burchart’s winner 67 seconds into the extra period.
The teams exchanged goals in the middle frame as Zack Ostapchuk scored for the Sabres.
The shot count was 28-19 for the Sabres.
The netminders in both games were Ethan Barwick (3-3, 2.27 GAA) of the Sabres and Sebastian Cossa (4-0, 1.00 GAA) of the Rangers.
In league play, the Sabres beat the Rangers 3-2 Dec. 22 in St. Albert and the teams skated an 8-8 draw Jan. 26 in Fort Saskatchewan.
The Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League north division semifinal between the St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders and Leduc Oil Kings is now a best-of-three playoff after the teams split two overtime games.
The Raiders won Tuesday’s series opener 4-3 on Peter Corrigan’s OT winner at Akinsdale Arena and the Oil Kings tied the series Thursday at Leduc
Game three is 1:15 p.m. Sunday at Akinsdale Arena and game four is 6:45 p.m. Tuesday in Leduc.
Game five, if needed, is 7 p.m. Thursday at Akinsdale Arena.
In both games the Raiders and Oil Kings rallied in the third period.
In game one, Xavier Halterman’s second of the night at 10:13 and Garrett Clegg’s tying marker at 19:17 was followed by Corrigan’s tally 2:53 into OT.
Aidan West also picked up two assists.
Shots were 49-38 for the Oil Kings as Chris Curr backstopped the Raiders (16-14-4, 103 GF/97 GA) to victory in their first game after an opening-round bye as the second-place finishers in the north.
The third-place Oil Kings (14-15-5, 94 GF/103 GA) were coming off a two-game sweep of the sixth-place Maple Leafs.
In game two, the Raiders led 3-1 after the first and 4-2 entering the third before the Oil Kings pulled even before notching the winning 18 seconds into sudden death.
Logan Hunter, Eddie Gallagher, Mason Rezewski and Halterman scored on 35 shots by the Raiders and Curr stopped a game-high 48 shots.
In league play, the Raiders won 3-0 Jan. 15 in Leduc and the teams tied 4-4 Jan. 28 in St. Albert.
The St. Albert Royals continue their best-of-five semifinal against SSAC Dolce Vita Homes today in the Rural & Edmonton Midget 15 AA Hockey League.
Game three starts at 2:45 p.m. at Confederation Arena.
SSAC won the Wednesday’s series opener 4-1 at Confederation Arena and Friday’s score from Akinsdale Arena was unavailable at press time.
If needed, game four is 6:45 p.m. Monday at Akinsdale Arena and game five is 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at Confederation Arena.
Caleb Caines scored for the Royals in game one and Josh Ironside faced 33 shots.
SSAC (21-6-1, 119 GF/64 GA) and the Royals (18-6-4, 116 GF/51 GA) finished second and third, respectively, in the eight-team standings.
SSAC beat the Royals three times by scores of 5-2, 4-2 and 2-1 and the teams played to 2-2 draw Dec. 13 in St. Albert.
Both teams swept their best-of-three quarter-final series.
