The Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League’s north division award winners included several St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres.
Ethan Leyer was selected the north’s top forward and is the first Sabres’ recipient of the award since Brett Lysak in 1994/95 when it was presented to one player in the AMBHL.
Leyer, a right winger, ranked second in goals with 37 and tied for seventh in points with 68 in 36 games in the AMBHL scoring race.
Matt Savoie was recognized as the north’s rookie of the year and is the only Sabre to receive the award since it was instituted in 1991/92.
Savoie, a centre, was a first-year bantam playing up an age group and in 35 games racked up 35 goals and 61 points.
Matt’s brother, Carter, was recognized as the north’s top scorer. The left winger finished tied for third overall in AMBHL scoring with 72 points, with 24 goals and 48 assists in 36 games, and is the only Sabre to be presented with the award since it was introduced in 1989/90.
Noah Danielson of the Red Deer Rebels led all AMBHL scorers with 78 points.
The St. Albert Source for Sports Crusaders host SSAC Don Wheaton tonight in game one of the Metro conference playoffs in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League.
Faceoff is 7:45 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
Game two in the best-of-three series is 7:30 p.m. Monday at Bill Hunter Arena.
Game three, if needed, is 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at Akinsdale Arena.
The winner plays the GPAC Storm or Strathcona Warriors in the best-of-five league final.
In league play, the Crusaders (19-11-2) finished second in the Besa hockey division and SSAC (12-17-3) was third in the Anderson hockey division.
The Crusaders qualified for the conference final as winners of their last five games in the Besa division round-robin tournament after losing the playoff opener 5-1 to the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (7-24-1) March 7.
Tuesday’s 6-2 decision over the Rangers secured a spot in the next playoff round.
Zach Giacobbo, Keegan Doll, Cole Ridd, Brett Miller, David Cloutier and affiliate Stuart Dovey scored. Dovey also assisted on four goals and Miller added two assists.
Shots were 54-22 for the Crusaders and Shane Zilko (3-0, 2.11 GAA) was in net.
Miller leads the Crusaders in playoff scoring with eight goals and 11 points.
Rhys Mazur notched four goals and eight points and Giacobbo has seven assists and eight points.
The Metro conference series in the Edmonton Rural Bantam AA Hockey League is a St. Albert showdown between the Comets and Elite Sportswear Blues.
Game one in the best-of-three playoff was staged Friday but the score was unavailable at press time.
Game two is set for 1:45 p.m. today at Akinsdale Arena.
Game three, if needed, is 3:45 p.m. Sunday at the Akinsdale rink.
The winner advances to the best-of-three league final against the Camrose Bulldogs or Fort McMurray Barons.
The Comets (20-6-6) were the top team in the Blue division and the Blues finished second in the Red division.
Both teams were victorious in their respective divisional playoff tournaments.
The fourth win in five games for the Comets was 5-0 against the PAC Broncos (12-17-3) Sunday.
Hudson Ketsa, Dylan Leslie and Graziano Grozic cashed in on the power play, Adam Olsen tallied shorthanded and Carter MacDonald scored at even strength.
Carson Ironside (3-1, 2.25 GAA) faced 16 shots while posting his second playoff shutout as the Comets avenged a 6-5 loss to the Broncos last Saturday.
Brett Reiter was the top scorer for the Comets in the first playoff round with six goals and eight points.
Olsen also registered five goals and seven points and Breck McKinley recorded five assists and seven points.
The Blues swept all five games in the divisional playoffs and the last victory was 3-2 over the Sherwood Park Leafs (17-10-5) Tuesday.
Joel Vollrath’s third goal of the game, a power-play effort in the third period, was the winner.
Vollrath leads all playoff scorers with 10 goals and 12 points.
Matt Waldbillig and Aidyn Hutchinson chipped in two assists apiece and Cole Crozier (5-0, 1.60 GAA, one shutout) faced 26 shots.
Hutchinson is second in playoff scoring with nine assists and 11 points and Ethan Pool is third on the Blues with five goals and eight points.
Tuesday’s bantam B female Hockey Edmonton final between the St. Albert Stealth and Edmonton Wild Things starts at 7:45 p.m. at Kinsmen Arena.
The Stealth are 20-2-2 in league and playoffs after defeating the Sherwood Park Fuzion 3-1 in Wednesday’s playoff at Grand Trunk Arena.
This weekend the Stealth are competing at the eight-team provincials in Leduc and the team’s pool A round robin games are against Cold Lake, Wild Things, Irma and Leduc.
Visit www.hockeyalberta.ca for results.
The atom AA minor provincials are underway for the St. Albert Chargers in Morinville and Legal this weekend.
The Chargers won their pool B opener Thursday, 6-4 over Strathcona, and Friday’s score against Glenlake was unavailable at press time.
The Chargers face-off today against Okotoks at 9 a.m. and Chestermere at 6:30 p.m. at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
Pool B consists of Sylvan Lake, Sturgeon, Cold Lake, Olds and the SWZ Oil Kings.
Sunday the semifinals are 8 and 10:30 a.m. and the final is 4 p.m. at the Ray McDonald rink.
Visit www.hockeyalberta.ca for results.
