The St. Albert Raiders start their best-of-five Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League north division semifinal at home tonight against the South Side Athletic Club. Puck drop is 7:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
Game two is Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
The Raiders host game three Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
If needed, game four is Tuesday at 8:45 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena and game five goes March 8 at 7 p.m. in St. Albert.
The series winner will play the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers or the Leduc Oil Kings, the host team for the 2012 Telus Cup national championship, in the best-of-five north final.
The last two years the Raiders were eliminated in the north semifinal by Leduc in the fifth and deciding game.
In the north standings the Raiders (21-9-4) placed second for a first-round playoff bye and South Side (13-17-4) was fifth.
The Raiders finished with the second-best defensive record in league play with 83 goals against. Wyatt Hoflin (12-6-2, 2.38 GAA) and Landon Bow (9-3-2, 2.47 GAA) ranked among the top goalies.
The Raiders were led offensively by Kevin Miller’s 15 goals and 41 points in 33 games and Trace Elson’s 15 goals and 35 points in 28 games.
The Morinville Jets can sweep their best-of-five quarter-final series with a victory tonight against the visiting Edmonton Mustangs in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Face-off is 8:30 p.m. at the Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
Last weekend netminder Brad Miller backstopped the Jets to playoff victories of 6-1 in Morinville and 4-2 in Edmonton.
The playoff scoring leaders for the Jets are Tyler Nault and Nick Pratt with four points apiece.
If the Mustangs can stave off elimination, game four is Friday at 8 p.m. at Mill Woods Arena and game five goes Sunday at 6:45 p.m. in Morinville.
In the west division the Jets and Beverly Warriors finished in a first-place tie with identical 24-11-3 records. The Mustangs (18-16-4) placed fifth and in the best-of-three qualifying round swept the fourth-place St. Albert Merchants (19-15-4).
In the regular season Dalen Paul led the league in goals with 40 and tied for seventh in points with 59 in 36 games.
The St. Albert Slash shut out the Lloydminster Steelers twice in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League playoffs last weekend at Performance Arena.
In the opening game in the best-of-five north semifinal Emily Mitchell stopped 20 shots and affiliate player Abigail Benning scored on the power play in the 1-0 win.
In game two Kaelin Klim faced 21 shots in the 10-0 victory. Deanna Morin and Rebecca Wall posted hat tricks, Ashley Morin potted a pair and Jessica Kampjes and Charity Price added singles. Kampjes, Sabrina Flemming and Denzelle Bourgeois chipped in with three assists apiece.
Game three is Friday at 8 p.m. in Lloydminster.
If needed, game four is Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Border City and game five goes Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at Performance Arena.
In the division standings the Slash (20-7-5) finished second for a first-round playoff bye and the Steelers (11-17-4) placed third.
The series winner will play the 2011 champion Edmonton Thunder (24-5-3), last year’s silver medallists at the Esso Cup nationals in St. Albert, or the Grande Prairie Storm (9-17-6) in the best-of-five north final.
The Blues and Crusaders from St. Albert lost their respective best-of-three divisional semifinals in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League playoffs.
The Blues (19-7-6), last year’s league finalists, bowed out in two games to the CAC Butchers & Packers (14-14-4) and the Crusaders (13-15-4) dropped two straight to the Barrhead Steelers (23-7-2).
In league play the Blues placed first in the central red standings and the Crusaders finished fifth in the west blue standings.
Next week the bantam AAA female St. Albert Raiders will start their playoff series against the Grande Prairie Storm or Sherwood Park Royals in the best-of-three north division semifinal.
The Raiders (17-5-4) have a first-round bye after finishing on top of the north standings. The Storm (9-16-1) and Royals (4-17-5) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
