Friday the St. Albert Merchants host the Beverly Warriors in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Faceoff is 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
In the west division the Merchants (16-9-3) are tied for third, one point back of the second-place Warriors (17-9-2).
Sunday the Merchants visit the Edmonton Mustangs (12-14-1) at 8 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
Last weekend the Merchants lost 5-3 to the North Edmonton Red Wings (17-9-1) at Londonderry Arena and posted a 4-3 win over the Stony Plain Flyers (2-24) at home. The victory was the third in four games for the Money Men.
Meanwhile, forward Alex Hawirko, defenceman Brayden Switner and netminder Justin Pawlenchuk will represent the Merchants on the west team in Saturday’s all-star game in Ardrossan at 4 p.m.
The Morinville Jets’ all-stars are forward Nick Pratt and defenceman Karmen Ward.
The rookie all-star game at 1:15 p.m. will feature defenceman Dan Rombough, forwards Jordan MacPhee and Casey Reid and netminder Max Cathcart of the Merchants and forward Kevin Markle and defenceman Jared Hills of the Jets.
The puck drops next week at the John Reid Memorial Tournament.
The 35th annual invitational tournament starts Thursday at 8 a.m. and ends with Sunday’s final at 2 p.m. All but one of the 42 games will be played at Servus Credit Union Place.
The St. Albert Gregg Distributor Sabres have games scheduled Thursday against the Pursuit of Excellence Academy of Kelowna at 10:45 a.m. and the Winnipeg Monarchs at 7:30 p.m. and Friday against the Calgary Bisons at 5 p.m. at Northstar Hyundai Arena.
See page 38 for the 16-team schedule, or visit www.johnreidmemorial.com.
Last year the Cloverdale Colts beat the Semiahmoo Ravens of Surrey, B.C. in the final.
The only St. Albert team to win the tournament was the 1983 Territorial Leasing Sabres.
The tournament is hosted by the Sabres and the St. Albert Raiders Hockey Club.
Two road wins last weekend lifted the St. Albert Flyers into first place in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League’s north division.
The Flyers (12-5-4) downed the Leduc Oil Kings 7-1 and doubled the KC Centennials 4-2.
After the Oil Kings (9-7-4) scored in the first period, Curtis Peck, Mark Matsuba, Cam Mazur, Josh Perrott and Ethan Lazaro replied in the second and Thomas Friesen and Brendan Bow added insurance markers in the third. Peck finished the game with three assists.
Shots were 46-26 for the Flyers. In net was Pat Dea.
Kole Bryks tallied twice and Bow and Nathan Bizeau also connected against KC (10-7-2). The shot count was 41-20 for the Flyers. Dea posted the win.
Saturday the Flyers visit the Grande Prairie Storm (5-12-3) at 2:30 p.m.
The next home game is Monday versus the Spruce Grove Saints (4-15) at 6:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The St. Albert Slash returned home from Grande Prairie last weekend after losing twice to the Storm in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League.
The Storm (15-5-6), ranked second in the north division, extended their lead by 11 points over the third-place Slash (11-11-3) with wins of 3-2 and 4-2.
In the first game Deanna Morin and Rebecca Wall scored in the second period to knot it at 2-2. The Storm potted the winner halfway through the third. Shots were 22-13 for the Slash. In net was Andrea Dombowsky.
Jessica Dyck tallied twice in the middle period in game two, but the Storm broke the 2-2 tie with a pair of markers in the last period before a melee broke out with 38 seconds to play.
The Slash outshot the Storm 41-26. Kaelin Klim and Dombowsky split time in net.
The loss was the fifth in six league games for the Slash. Their next game is Jan. 16 against the Sherwood Park Fury (2-16-5) at 8:30 p.m. at Northstar Hyundai Arena.
