The last road game before the playoffs for the St. Albert Merchants is 8 p.m. Friday against the Leduc Riggers.
The Merchants (25-7-1) are third in the west division and Leduc (9-24-2) is sixth in the east standings.
The Merchants close out the regular season in the Capital Junior B Hockey League at home against the Wetaskiwin Icemen (22-10-3) Sunday, Stony Plain Flyers (11-19-4) Feb. 5 and Fort Saskatchewan Hawks (19-13-2) Feb. 7. Start times are 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Merchants pumped the brakes on a two-game winless streak after a season-high five consecutive victories in Sunday’s 7-3 decision against the host Strathcona Bruins (8-24-2).
The Merchants battled back from an early 2-0 deficit to knot it at two after 40 minutes.
Goals less than two minutes apart by Thomas Rotundo (14th) and Taylor Lotoski (first) to start off the third put the Merchants on top.
Brenden Passek (12th) and Mason Kenny (10th) also scored and Cam Mazur (19th) completed his hat-trick. Mazur also scored two of the team’s three power-play goals.
Lotoski and Matt Havens finished with three assists apiece.
Shots were 14-9 in the third and 36-25 overall for the Merchants. Ty Clelland (16-12, 3.75 GAA) was the winning netminder.
The Merchants were coming off a 6-3 loss to the North Edmonton Red Wings in a nasty tilt Friday in St. Albert. The teams combined for 28 infractions and 180 minutes, with the Merchants guilty of 16 infractions for 105 minutes.
Most of the bad blood flowed in the middle frame. Mazur and Logan McKay dropped the gloves during the same stoppage in play against Jordan Denesiuk and Zach Eastcott of the Red Wings. Nine seconds later at the 14:16 mark, Mitchell Walters duked it out with Sine Chadi of the Red Wings. McKay and Eastcott were suspended one game each as the second fight in the same stoppage.
Krys Kraychy (11th) and Casey Reid (15th) struck in the first and the Red Wings (25-6-2), the west division leaders and the top CJHL team, replied with three in a row to start the second. Passek knotted it at three on the power play at 8:36, as Rotundo picked up his second assist of the night.
The Red Wings, the defending Founders Cup and provincial champions, ended the period with two goals, including their second on the power play.
The 2015 Keystone Cup western silver medallists closed out the win with an empty net goal in the third.
The Merchants were outshot 41-23 and Clelland was in net.
The St. Albert Slash have two home games on tap this weekend against teams below them in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League standings.
The sixth-place Slash (8-11-6) host the seventh-place Peace Country Storm (8-12-3) Friday at 8 p.m. and the eighth-place Lloydminster Steelers (7-14-3) Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
The last game for the Slash was the 2-1 shootout loss to the Steelers in the Border City last weekend.
Danielle Cox recorded her team-leading 10th goal and 14th point in the first period and the Steelers scored the equalizer on the power play in the third.
The Slash are the second-most penalized AMMFHL team at 266 minutes. The Storm are first at 280 minutes.
The Slash were outshot 31-18 and Hannah Clark (5-6-2, 1.54 GAA) was in net.
The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres have three games remaining before the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League playoffs start Feb. 16.
The best-of-three opening round playoff preview in the nitro north division was Saturday’s 4-4 draw between the second-place Sabres (22-4-6) and third-place SSAC Southgate Lions (17-9-4) at Confederation Arena.
The only goal in the third period was the tying marker by the Lions with 12 seconds remaining.
Austin Spiridakis, Kye Buchanan, Carson Henry and Ryley Morgan scored and Braydon Iwaschuk added two assists as the Sabres raised their January record to 4-0-2.
Shots were even at 25 apiece. Ryley Osland (10-3-3, 2.48 GAA) was between the pipes.
The Sabres are 2-0-2 against the Lions in league play.
The last game for the Sabres was Tuesday against the Sherwood Park Flyers in St. Albert but the score was unavailable at press time.
The Sabres were three points back of the first-place Flyers (26-2-1) but Sherwood Park had three games in hand.
The Flyers and Calgary Bisons (25-2-3) of the challenger south division were tied for first overall in the AMBHL and the Sabres were ranked fourth.
The next game for the Sabres is Feb. 4 versus the Leduc Oil Kings (9-16-4) at 7 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The St. Albert Flyers are winless in their last three games when they play the Leduc Oil Kings on Sunday in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.
Faceoff is 6:15 p.m. at Callingwood Arena.
The Flyers (14-10-4) trail fourth-place Leduc (17-8-4) by six points in the north division with a game in hand after losses of 4-3 to the CRAA Gold and 4-1 to the Grande Peace Storm last weekend in St. Albert.
Ryan Deets tallied once and assisted on goals by David Cloutier and Keigan Miller against the Gold (12-8-7), a south division team. Period scores were 2-2 and 3-3.
Shots on goal were not listed on the gamesheet. In net for the Flyers was Colton Girard (9-7-2, 2.34 GAA).
Cloutier scored against the 10th-place Storm (6-19-3). Shots were 30-18 for the Flyers, who called up three bantam AAA affiliates for the contest. Mitchell Reidy (5-3-2, 2.42 GAA) was in net.
The Flyers are 3-5-1 in January.
