The St. Albert Flyers extended their undefeated streak to five games in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League with Wednesday’s 5-4 victory over the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers.
Brett Smythe’s second goal of the night was the game winner at Akinsdale Arena.
Michael Buchamer scored once and added two assists as the Flyers raised their second-place record to 12-5-4 in the north conference.
Tyler Lotoski and Nicholas Prkusic also notched singles against the Rangers (6-11-3). Shots were 32-24 for the Flyers. In net was JT Bartlett.
Tonight the Flyers play the Sherwood Park Squires (6-14-7) at 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The pennant race heats up next weekend when the Flyers host the first-place Lloydminster Rage (18-4-2) Saturday and the third-place Spruce Grove Saints (15-6-4) Sunday. Four points separate the top three teams in the conference. Game times are 1:15 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
Meanwhile, Paul Lovsin is the conference scoring leader with 25 goals and 46 points in 24 games. Smythe ranks third with 37 points in 22 games. His 17 goals is the second-highest total on the team
Pat Gora (7-2-3) leads all goalies in the conference with a 2.10 GAA, three shutouts and a .921 save percentage.
The 13th win in 14 games for the St. Albert Raiders was Wednesday’s 5-3 decision over the Sherwood Park Royals in the Alberta Major Bantam Female Hockey League.
Megan Lalor tallied twice in the third period to break a 3-3 tie at Troy Murray Arena. Julia Kormysh, Taylor Corrigal and Jamie Jones also scored against the last-place Royals (3-16-2). Shots were 33-17 for the Raiders. In net was Natalie Bender.
Lalor is the league’s top scorer with 23 goals and 32 points in 22 games.
Tonight the first-place Raiders (17-2-3) visit the Edmonton Lightning (10-5-3) at 6:15 p.m. at Castledowns Arena.
The St. Albert Slash and Spruce Grove Saints split their home-and-home series in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League.
Last Saturday in Spruce Grove the Saints pulled off a rare 3-1 win against the Slash as netminder Karly McLeod stopped 48 shots.
The Saints closed out the first period with three consecutive goals after Haley Kuzyk opened the scoring for St. Albert at the 6:49 mark. Emily Mitchell let in two goals on 24 shots in 47:52 minutes played and Kaelin Klim gave up one goal on six shots.
In Monday’s rematch at Performance Arena, Jessica Kampjes and twins Ashley and Deanna Morin potted goals in the third period to give the Slash a 6-3 victory. The trio gave the Slash a 3-0 lead in the first and the Saints replied with three unanswered goals in the second.
The winning goalie was Klim with seven saves in 23:35 minutes played. Mitchell surrendered three goals on 10 shots.
In the north division the Slash (14-6-4) are six points back of the defending champion Edmonton Thunder (18-3-2). The Saints (7-16-2) are tied for fourth place.
This weekend in Grande Prairie the Slash play the Storm (6-14-4) twice.
