Four unanswered goals propelled the Morinville Jets to victory Friday against the host St. Albert Merchants in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Brett Dubuc's unassisted shorthanded marker with 1:34 left in the middle period tied it at two and in the third Dylan Stang fired the winner at 17:05, Lee Gadoury's second of the night came at 16:11 and Jorden Rooke's empty-net goal was deposited with 77 seconds remaining.
After a scoreless opening frame, Gadoury pulled the Jets even at one after Connor Tupala scored for the Merchants.
Cam Mazur made it 2-1 Merchants on the power play at 15:23.
Shots were 45-25 for the Jets. Jaedon McConnell was in net for the visitors and Ethan Crotty tended the twine for the Merchants.
Sunday both teams suffered identical 6-3 losses in their home rinks. The Jets fell to the North Edmonton Red Wings and the Merchants' setback was against the Wetaskiwin Icemen (19-7-2).
The result for the Jets (20-6-4) left them two points ahead of the Red Wings (20-7-2) in the race for top spot in the west standings but the two-time defending Founders Cup playoff champions have a game in hand.
The Red Wings converted three power-play opportunities and also scored while shorthanded.
Stang's two goals included one with the man advantage to cut the deficit to 4-3 at 16:57 of the second.
Wesley Markle collected one goal and two assists and Craig Hills added a pair of helpers in support of McConnell (9-2, 2.47 GAA) as the Jets suffered only their second loss in 13 games and are 11-3-1 at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
The Merchants are 6-8-1 at Akinsdale Arena after their third loss in a row in league play while going 3-3-3 in their last nine games.
It was 3-1 Merchants early in the second on goals by Mason Kenny, Jake Mercier and Ryan Cooper when the Hawks replied with a pair in the second, including the tying goal on the power play at 13:27, and potted three more in the third.
Shots were 56-40 for the Hawks and Crotty (6-7, 4.19 GAA) was in net.
Friday the Merchants host the Sherwood Park Knights (7-19-3) at 8 p.m. and Sunday they visit the Icemen at 6 p.m.
The Jets are in action Friday against the Stony Plain Flyers (12-14-3) at 8:30 p.m. at Glenn Hall Centennial Arena and Sunday's home game against the Beverly Warriors (18-11) starts at 6:45 p.m.
Meanwhile, the CJHL's rookie and all-star games will be staged Saturday at Ken Nichol Arena in Beaumont.
The 2 p.m. rookie game will feature on the west roster Evan Haimila, Sam Milner and Cooper of the Merchants and Jason Morgan, Zach Mcrae and Markle of the Jets, plus Morinville's coaching staff led by bench boss Trent Brown.
The west roster for the 5 p.m. all-star game includes Matt Havens of the Merchants and Tyler Hagel of the Jets in the starting lineup.
The Merchants will also be represented by Mike Bruni and Mazur and the rest of the Jets are Dean Jones, Dubuc and McConnell.
Two victories at home last weekend lifted the St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders into sole possession of second place in the north division of the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
The Raiders are 12-13-1 with eight games left until the playoffs after scores of 4-1 against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (6-15-5) and 5-2 against the Lethbridge Hurricanes (7-17-3) at Akinsdale Arena.
Spencer Augot, Garrett Clegg, Maxwell Struss and captain Sam Smith-Ackerl capitalized on the power play against the Rangers.
Augot, Struss and Logan Hunter also picked up two assists each.
Shots were 31-29 for the Rangers and in net for the Raiders was Chris Curr (9-8, 2.59 GAA).
Augot, Zane Avery and Brady Nicholas struck on the power play against the penalty-riddled Hurricanes and Mitchell Reidy (3-5-1, 4.16 GAA) faced a game-high 30 shots.
Peter Corrigan and Aidan Steinke also tallied at even strength as the Raiders rattled off their third win in a row and the eighth in 11 games.
The Raiders have road games on tap Saturday against the Grande Peace Storm (8-12-4) at 2 p.m. and Sunday against the Leduc Oil Kings (10-11-3) at 4 p.m.
The midget AAA St. Albert Slash padded their point total in the Alberta Female Hockey League with three wins in three days last weekend.
The Slash (18-0-1, 74 GF/26 GA) swept the Calgary Fire (6-11-1) 2-1 and 7-2 at Go Auto Arena and beat the Lloydminster Steelers (9-10-1) 3-1 in the Border City.
The Slash are 4-0 since the 5-4 shootout loss to the Pandas on Dec. 11.
Slash forward Madison Willan of Edmonton leads the AFHL with 18 assists, 33 points and five power-play goals and is tied for first in goals with 15.
Brianna Sank of Ardrossan is the top AFHL netminder with a 1.31 GAA and eight wins and is tied for the lead in shutouts with three.
Friday the Slash host the Red Deer Chiefs (5-11-4) at 8 p.m. and Sunday's game against the Edmonton Pandas (8-12) starts at 11:45 a.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
The bantam elite St. Albert Raiders continue to rack up the wins as the top team the Alberta Female Hockey League.
The 12th victory in a row for the Raiders (14-2, 44 GF/15 GA) was 2-1 against the Edmonton Pandas (6-7-2) Sunday at Go Auto Arena.
Natalie Kieser and Kamea Brezovski scored and Elle Boyko (8-1, 1.14 GAA) faced 13 shots.
The day before the Raiders recorded their third shutout in as many games and sixth during the winning streak in the 5-0 against the Lethbridge Cyclones (6-10) at Mark Messier Arena.
Holly Borrett (6-1, 0.61 GAA) stopped 11 shots for the team's sixth shutout and her fourth of the season
Libby Langenhahn tallied three times and Natalie Kieser and Jaidia Pisani potted singles.
Langenhahn leads the Raiders in scoring with 13 goals and 14 points.
Tonight the Raiders face-off against the Pandas at 7:45 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
