The St. Albert Raiders entertain the Maple Leafs tonight in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
Game time is 7:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Raiders (10-7-3) are 4-1-1 after losing three in a row. They share fifth place in the north and the Maple Leafs (6-12-3) are ranked eighth out of 10 teams.
Last weekend on the road the top defensive team in the north stoned the Calgary Royals 3-0 Saturday and battled the Red Deer Chiefs to a 1-1 draw Sunday.
Pat Dea recorded the team’s first shutout of the season with a game-high 39 saves against the Royals (14-6-2), who are tied with the UFA Bisons for first in the south.
Parker AuCoin and Taylor Lotoski potted goals in period two and Luc Smith scored in the third.
Dea (7-3-2, 1.88 GAA) faced 45 shots against Red Deer (11-4-4), the four-time reigning provincial champion. The Raiders were credited with only 15 shots.
Wyatt Williams netted the equalizer with 4:29 to play and less than a minute after Red Deer opened the scoring.
The senior AA Morinville Kings extended their winning streak to five games in Saturday’s 7-6 overtime decision against the Rocky Mountain House Rams in the North Central Hockey League.
Jorey McRae’s second goal of the night was the OT winner at the Ray McDonald Sports Centre. Morgan Cardinal and Brayden Arcand assisted on McRae’s third goal and eighth point of the season.
Period scores in the back-and-forth affair were 2-2 after the first and 4-3 Rocky after the second.
Rocky (2-6-1) scored with one second left in regulation time to force an extra period.
Chris Fraser and Cody Regier struck in the first, Dalen Paul scored in the second and McRae, Shane O’Neill and Paul tallied in the third. Paul finished with three points and Arcand had three assists. In net was Curtis Ronaldson.
The Kings and Devon Barons, the defending NCHL champions, remain tied on top of the north standings at 7-2.
The last game before the Christmas break is Saturday versus the Whitecourt Wild (5-5) at 8:30 p.m. in Morinville.
The St. Albert Sabres settled for a 3-3 draw Friday while outshot by the Camrose Vikings in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
Zach Marano tied it with 4:04 to play and goalie Chris Curr (2-4-3, 2.92 GAA) stopped 29 shots against the Vikings (6-6-4) in Camrose. The Sabres registered 20 shots overall.
Josh Antunes and Aidan Steinke also scored and Lucus Palladino chipped in with two assists.
The Sabres (7-8-3) skated Tuesday against the KC Squires (0-18-1), but the score was unavailable at press time.
Saturday the Sabres visit the Maple Leafs (4-14-2) at 4 p.m. at Castledowns Arena.
Several local female hockey players will compete for Zone 5 (Black Gold/Yellowhead) at the 2014 Alberta Winter Games.
The line-up of players born between 1999 and 2002 features goalie Hannah Clark and forwards Sophie Lalor and Sarah Passek of St. Albert, defenceman Madison McCoy and forwards Miranda Gaudet and Brandy Steinmann of Sturgeon County and forwards Jayme Doyle and Ireland Perrott of Calahoo.
The coaching staff includes Brenda Dyck as director of operations and assistant coach Brock Brokenshire.
Recent zone tryout camps determined the eight zone teams for the Feb. 6 to 9 multi-sport event in Banff and Canmore.
