There will be a new recipient of the Joe Cherrington Memorial Trophy as the north division playoff winners after the Lloydminster Bobcats eliminated the St. Albert Raiders in the best-of-five midget AAA semifinals.
Bobby McMann scored the tie-breaking goal early in period three and Cade Spencer stopped a game-high 35 shots for the Bobcats in Wednesday’s 2-1 series-clinching win in Lloydminster.
Zach Gonek opened the scoring for the Raiders on the power play in the first minute of period two and Mitch Martell (1-3, 2.58 GAA) faced 28 shots.
The loss was the third in a row for the 2012 provincial finalists after winning game one 4-2 in St. Albert.
The Bobcats roared back to win game two 4-2 in the Border City and Monday in St. Albert prevailed 3-2 as Cole Nicholson capitalized on the power play with 31 seconds gone in the second overtime period.
In the north standings the Raiders (19-9-6) placed second and the Bobcats (16-10-8) were fourth.
In league play the Raiders won 5-2 on the road and tied the Bobcats 2-2 at home.
The Raiders finished the season at 4-7-2 overall after losing their last two games at the 35th annual Mac’s Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament in Calgary during the Christmas break.
The St. Albert Flyers are seeded first in the north cup playoffs as the division pennant winners in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.
The Flyers (21-6-5) play the eighth-place Leduc Oil Kings (12-15-5), sixth-place Camrose Vikings (12-9-1) and the fourth-place Lloydminster Rage (17-10-5) in pool A action this weekend in Camrose.
The tournament features two pools of four teams each and a consolation pool.
The top two teams in pools A and B advance to the semifinals.
Last year the two finalists and the third-place winner in the north qualified for provincials.
This year’s provincials are March 20 to 24 at the Terwillegar Recreational Centre and Bill Hunter Arena.
The Flyers ended the regular season on a 14-1-1 tear.
Edmonton Oil Kings’ draft pick Pat Dea (13-5-2) led all netminders with a 1.72 GAA, .946 save percentage and five shutouts.
The St. Albert Raiders are playing the Lloydminster Ice Cats in the Alberta Major Bantam Female Hockey League playoffs after rallying to defeat the Spruce Grove Saints in the opening round.
The best-of-three north division semifinal started Friday in Lloydminster, but the score was unavailable at press time.
Game two goes today at 1:30 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
If needed, game three is 2:45 p.m. Sunday in Lloydminster.
The Raiders (14-13-1) and the Ice Cats (13-12-3) shared second place in the north. The Border City squad won the season series 2-1-1.
Last weekend the Raiders rebounded from their opening 3-2 playoff loss to beat the Saints 2-1 in Spruce Grove and 8-0 in St. Albert.
In game two it was 1-0 for the Saints when Jamie Jones scored twice in period three, including the game winner with 75 seconds remaining in regulation time and the Raiders shorthanded.
Hannah Clark faced 15 shots while posting her third shutout of the season in the deciding game. Julia Kormysh and Lexi Shaw tallied twice and Carly Chikie, Jamie Kidd, Kyrelle Skoye and Sarah Passek notched singles against the last-place Saints (4-21-3).
The St. Albert Blues have to beat SSAC Lakewood Chevrolet today and Sunday for a berth in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League semifinals.
The Blues lost game one in the best-of-three Inside Edge division series 6-1 Tuesday at Bill Hunter Arena. Nick Malinski scored in period three and J.T. Bartlett stopped a game-high 41 shots.
Game two goes today at 3:30 p.m. at Northstar Hyundai Arena.
Game four, if needed, is 4 p.m. Sunday at Confederation Arena.
SSAC (17-6-9) finished two points ahead of the Blues (18-9-5) for the division pennant.
The Blues went 3-1 against SSAC in league play.
Andrew Clark leads the Blues in playoff points with seven in six games. Seth Waselenchuk and Braden MacIver are the top scorers with four goals in six games.
