Friday’s showdown in the Capital Junior B Hockey League is a rematch of last year’s Founders Cup final, when the St. Albert Merchants visit the Fort Saskatchewan Hawks.
Puck drop is 8 p.m. at JRC Arena in the Fort.
The Merchants, winners of seven in a row and 17 out of 18 games, are first overall in the league rankings at 30-6 as the west division leaders.
The Hawks are 4-0-1 in their last five games as the top team in the east standings at 26-9-1.
In October, the Merchants doubled the Hawks 6-3 at Akinsdale Arena.
Last year, the Hawks beat the Merchants in the fifth and deciding game of the Founders Cup final in St. Albert.
The last game for the Merchants before the playoffs is Tuesday against the rival Morinville Jets (23-10-2) at 8:30 p.m. at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
Last weekend, the Merchants raised their home record to 17-2 with wins of 5-3 against the Spruce Grove Regals (7-26-2) and 7-6 against the Wetaskiwin Icemen (6-26-3). Both teams are last in their respective divisions.
Blair Macuch’s power-play marker with 4:17 left in the second period snapped a 3-3 stalemate against the Regals on Friday.
Jordan MacPhee struck shorthanded and Braeden Farge capitalized on the man advantage in the third.
Liam McNamara and Mike Roeleveld opened the scoring for the Merchants and the Regals replied with one goal in the first and a pair on the power play in the second.
Captain Dan Rombough added two assists as 11 Merchants registered points.
The Merchants outshot the Regals 43-17 as Ethan Maertens-Poole posted the win in net.
The teams combined for 21 infractions for 104 penalty minutes.
The Merchants were led by Casey Reid’s hat-trick and Macuch’s four assists against Wetaskiwin Sunday.
MacPhee potted a pair and Josh Jewell and Taylor Wiebe sniped singles as 12 Merchants picked up points.
The Merchants battled back from an early 2-0 deficit to make it 2-2 after 20 minutes and led 5-3 after two periods.
The shot count was 50-36 for the Merchants and Maertens-Poole (8-4, 3.32 GAA) was between the pipes.
The St. Albert Raiders lost ground in the north division pennant race after dropping two straight home games last weekend in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
The Raiders (16-8-7) were blanked 4-0 by the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (13-11-6) Saturday and lost 6-5 to the Lloydminster Bobcats (18-9-3) Sunday at Akinsdale Arena.
The Rangers scored four times, including two power-play goals, on 31 shots against Ethan Crotty (5-4-2, 3.56 GAA) and the Raiders were credited with 29 shots.
The next day, the Raiders gassed a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes as the Bobcats roared back with four goals on 17 shots in the middle frame. The teams exchanged goals during a frantic four-minute, 43-second scoring spree in the third.
Ryan Cox tallied twice and assisted on Marcus Kichton’s power-play goal to tie it at five with 10:59 remaining.
Luigi Naccarato and Jaedon Leslie also scored. Shots were 42-37 for the Bobcats and Joshua Dechaine (11-4-5, 3.34 GAA) was in net for the Raiders.
The loss was the fourth in five games for the Raiders. They share second place with the Bobcats and trail the first-place Canadian Athletic Club (19-9-4) by three points with games in hand.
This weekend, the Raiders are in Calgary to play the Buffaloes (18-7-5) and Royals (16-9-5). Both teams are ranked first and second, respectively, in the south.
The last game before the playoffs is Feb. 15 against the Red Deer Chiefs (10-15-5) at 1:15 p.m. in St. Albert.
The Slash host the reigning Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League champion Edmonton Thunder tonight at 8:15 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
The Slash (15-10-5) are three points behind the third-place Thunder (16-9-6) with a game in hand.
Last weekend, the Slash rallied from a 3-0 first-period deficit to edge the Sherwood Park Fury 4-3 in St. Albert.
Breanna Golosky, Allyson Short, Rachel Rochat scored in the second and Jamie Jones deposited the game winner at 3:47 of the third.
Natalie Bender (5-7, 2.76 GAA) let in three goals on nine shots in the opening 15:40 minutes and Erynn Shantz (10-5-3, 1.48 GAA) stopped 14 shots the rest of the way.
The win lifted the Slash into a fourth-place tie with the Fury (16-10-3) with a game in hand.
The last game for the Slash before the playoffs is Saturday against the Spruce Grove PAC Saints (13-14-3) at 7:30 p.m. at Troy Murray Arena.
The Morinville Kings drew first blood in their best-of-five opening playoff round against the Slave Lake Winterhawks in Saturday’s 10-2 rout at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
Tim Nolte did the most damage with two goals and two assists for the 2014 senior A provincial champions.
Wayne Gatza also scored twice and Shane O’Neill, Glendon Macklem, Cody Reiger (power play), Dalen Paul (power play), Brayden Arcand and Joel Pelletier notched singles.
Joshua Lafleche, Macklem, O’Neill, Arcand and Pelletier added two assists apiece.
Period scores were 3-1 and 8-2. The teams also combined for more than 100 penalty minutes.
Shots were 38-19 for the Kings and Curtis Ronaldson was in net.
The North Central Hockey League senior AA playoffs continue this weekend. The Winterhawks host the Kings Friday at 8:30 p.m. and game three Saturday starts at 5:45 p.m. in Morinville.
If needed, game four is Feb. 13 at 8:30 p.m. in Slave Lake and game five is Feb. 14 at 8:45 p.m. in Morinville.
In league play, the Kings (13-4-1) placed second and the Winterhawks (4-14) finished last in the seven-team standings.
The Kings swept the season series by scores of 6-3, 12-1 and 4-3.
