The St. Albert Steel ended the worst season in team history with their 48th loss in 60 games Saturday in Grande Prairie.
The last-place team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League let a two-goal lead slip away in the 3-2 win by the seventh-place Storm, allowing Grande Prairie to earn a split of their two-game weekend series.
Rhys Hadfield (4-26-1, 4.89 GAA) stopped 33 shots in his final AJHL game. He is the only graduating 20-year-old on the Steel roster.
Ryan Berlin’s sixth goal and 10th point in nine games and Taylor Graham’s first Steel goal put St. Albert on top during a fight-filled first period.
The night before Hadfield made 31 saves in the Steel’s ninth victory of the season, 5-2 in Grande Prairie. Mitch Loose tallied twice and Colten Meaver, Dallas Smith and Jamie Johnson also scored against St. Albert product Pat Terriss. Shots were 33 apiece as the Steel recorded their second win in four games.
The Steel finished their fifth season in St. Albert at the bottom of the 16-team circuit in goals scored (147) and goals against (291).
They also averaged 247 fans at Performance Arena while posting five wins on home ice.
The season is over for the St. Albert Merchants after they were swept by the Edmonton Mustangs in the best-of-three qualifying round in the Capital Junior B league.
The Merchants lost 5-2 Friday in St. Albert and 4-1 Sunday at Bill Hunter Arena.
In the opener the teams combined for 158 penalty minutes. The Mustangs scored three times before Jake Behiels replied at the end of the second period. Ryan Harrison also connected in the third. Braydon Switner assisted on both goals. Curtis Ronaldson and Justin Pawlenchuk split time in net.
In the second game it was 3-0 for the Mustangs when Behiels scored with 13 minutes left to play. In net was Pawlenchuk.
In league play the fourth-place Merchants (19-15-4) finished two points ahead of the Mustangs (18-16-4) In the west division and beat the Edmonton club twice in four games.
The Merchants ended the season with five straight losses while going 4-7 after Richard Hebert was replaced by Clint Wandler as head coach.
The St. Albert Sabres are done for the season after losing their opening playoff round in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
The SSAC Southgate Lions swept the Sabres in the best-of-three north conference quarter-final series by scores of 3-2 in double overtime and 7-1.
In Saturday’s game two in St. Albert the Lions racked up four goals in the second period and led 5-1 after 40 minutes. Curtis Peck replied for the Sabres. The Lions outshot the home team 38-23. In net was Pat Dea.
In the playoff opener last Tuesday at Coronation Arena, the Lions potted the game winner with 8:38 remaining in the second extra period. Goals by Stephen Wack and Peck made it 2-2 in the middle frame. Dea was tagged with the loss.
In the nitro division the Lions (26-4-3) placed first and the Sabres (18-8-7) were fourth. In five regular-season games against the league’s second-best team, the Sabres had two wins and a tie. In the last game before the playoffs the Lions blanked the Sabres 10-0.
