The Morinville Kings are one win away from advancing to the next round in the North Central Senior AA Hockey League playoffs after Saturday’s victory in the best-of-five series.
Dalen Paul tallied twice in the second period and Jordan Panasiuk faced a game-high 30 shots in the 6-1 win against the Slave Lake Winterhawks at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
Glendon Macklem, Shane O’Neill, Wayne Gatza and Tim Nolte also scored and Brayden Arcand added two assists in the penalty-filled contest.
It was 5-0 for the 2014 Hockey Alberta senior A champions when the Winterhawks connected before the end of the second.
The night before in Slave Lake, the Winterhawks evened the series at one win apiece in the 4-3 decision.
The Kings were led by Joel Pelletier’s hat-trick and a pair of helpers by Macklem and Nolte.
Shots were 33-28 for the Winterhawks and Curtis Ronaldson was in net for the Kings.
The playoff lid-lifter was a resounding 10-2 victory by the Kings in Morinville.
Game four in the opening playoff round is 8:30 p.m. Friday in Slave Lake and the game five, if needed, is 8:45 p.m. Saturday 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 6-3, 12-1 and 4-3.
The Raiders host the Red Deer Chiefs (11-16-5) at 1:15 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena Sunday.
If the north division playoffs started today, the third-place Raiders (17-9-7) would face-off against the sixth-place Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (13-12-8) in the best-of-three series.
The top two teams – Canadian Athletic Club (20-10-4) and Lloydminster Bobcats (19-9-4) – would receive first-round byes.
Last weekend in Calgary, the Raiders lost 8-0 to the Buffaloes and 6-3 to the Royals. The Buffaloes (20-7-5) and Royals (17-10-5) are ranked first and second, respectively, in the south division.
The Buffaloes outshot the Raiders 35-24 while posting period leads of 3-0 and 6-0.
Joshua Dechaine (six GA on 24 shots) was replaced by Ethan Crotty (two GA on 11 shots) to start the third period as the Raiders suffered their second shutout loss in three games.
Captain Brendan Kallis, Parker AuCoin and Ryan Cox scored against the Royals.
Shots were 36-32 for the Royals in the sixth loss in seven games for the Raiders.
Crotty (three GA on 13 shots) lasted one period and Dechaine (two GA on 23 shots) started the middle frame.
The Raiders dressed a skeleton lineup last weekend as defencemen Ian Mitchell and Nick Sutter and forwards Riley Smith and Ryan Cooper missed both games and forwards Cam Lockard and Cam Mazur didn’t play against the Royals.
The St. Albert Slash skate into the playoffs with five losses in their last six games in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League.
The Slash finished fifth in the 10-team standings at 15-12-5 after Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the eighth-place Spruce Grove PAC Saints (15-14-3) at Troy Murray Arena.
Last season the Slash placed fifth out of six teams in the north division at 6-21-5.
This year the top six teams receive a first-round bye and the next four teams play a best-of-three series for spots in the best-of-five second round, starting March 2.
Special teams powered the Saints past the Slash as the visitors struck three times on the power play and the game winner was a shorthanded effort with 7:03 left in regulation time.
Jenna Jewell’s second goal of the game made it 3-2 for the Slash with 14:02 to play.
Megan Lalor’s team-high 22nd goal and 34th point in 29 games tied it at one at 3:06 of the second.
Shots were 32-26 for the Saints and Erynn Shantz (10-7-3, 1.58 GAA) was in net for the Slash.
The St. Albert Flyers lost ground in the north division pennant race in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League in Sunday’s loss to the first-place SSAC Bulldogs.
The 3-2 setback at Callingwood Arena left the second-place Flyers (23-4-5) four points back of the Bulldogs (27-2-1) and SSAC has two games in hand.
Samuel Smith-Ackerl and Jack Langenhahn scored as the Flyers were outshot 48-26.
Chris Curr (14-2-3, 2.35 GAA) was in net for the team’s first loss after five wins during a 15-0-2 undefeated streak. The last loss was 6-2 to CAC United Cycle (16-14) Nov. 23.
The day before, Joshua Antunes (power play), Tylor Jans, Deklan Steward and Aidan Steinke (power play) tallied in the 4-2 win over the third-place Squires (20-6-5) in Sherwood Park.
The Flyers outscored the Squires 3-1 in the third.
Shots were 38 apiece and Curr was between the pipes.
The Flyers played the Leduc Oil Kings (8-17-5) in St. Albert Tuesday but the score was unavailable at press time. The team’s home record was 14-0-2.
The next game is Saturday against the Maple Leafs (14-13-6) at 6:30 p.m. at Kenilworth Arena.
