Junior B games
The Capital Junior Hockey League resumes this weekend for the St. Albert Merchants and Morinville Jets with 13 games remaining before the playoffs.Friday the Merchants (9-12-4) host the North Edmonton Red Wings (19-5-2) at 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena and Sunday’s contest against the Spruce Grove Regals (5-23) starts at 7:15 p.m. at Grant Fuhr Arena.
Saturday the Jets (14-10-1) visit the Sherwood Park Knights (18-8-1) at 3:45 p.m.
In the west division, the Jets are third behind the co-leading Beverly Warriors (20-7) and Red Wings.
The Merchants rank sixth with two games in hand on the fifth-place Stony Plain Flyers (11-14-2).
Six teams in the west standings qualify for the post-season and the top two receive byes in the best-of-three opening round.
The Jets went 5-2 in December and the last game was the 7-6 road loss to the Wetaskiwin Icemen (16-6-2) Dec. 22.
The two-time defending CJHL champions capitalized five times on the power play, including three in a row during a 2:04-minute span in the third period to erase a 6-4 deficit, while also striking once on the penalty kill.
Shots were 21-6 in the third and 51-36 overall for the Icemen as Colton Kuchar (10-8, 3.54 GAA) went the distance for the Jets.
Brett Dubuc leads the CJHL with 33 goals and 60 points in 25 games after posting one goal and three assists in the loss.
At the Christmas break, the Jets averaged 4.28 goals for and 3.68 goals against, compared to 4.00 for and 4.64 against by the Merchants.
The worst loss this season for the Merchants – 11-3 to the Fort Saskatchewan Hawks (13-14) Dec. 21 in St. Albert – left the Money Men with a 2-3-1 mark in December.
Midget 15 Flyers
The St. Albert Flyers are back on the ice in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League in Monday’s home game against the Leduc Oil Kings.Faceoff is 6:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The midget 15 Flyers (15-3-3) skated into the Christmas break as the north division leaders while tied with the Lethbridge Hurricanes (16-2-1) and Red Deer Chiefs (16-5-1) of the south division for first overall out of 24 teams.
The Flyers are two points in front of the PAC Saints (15-2-1) and three ahead of Leduc (14-5-2) in the north standings.
Last month’s record was 3-1-1 after the Flyers settled for a 2-2 draw against the host Sherwood Park Squires (9-5-4) Dec. 22.
Ethan Sundar is second in AMMHL scoring with 42 points in 20 games and his 20 goals include a league-high eight on the power play.
This weekend the Flyers are in tournament action in Caronport, Sask., and the first game is Friday against Lethbridge.
Sharks update
The St. Albert Sharks travel to Grande Prairie this weekend for two games against the Storm in the midget elite Alberta Female Hockey League.
One point separates the second-place Storm (8-4-1) and third-place Sharks (8-5) in the north division.
The Sharks are back home next Wednesday to play the first-place Sherwood Park Fury (10-1-2) at 8:45 p.m. at Troy Murray Arena.
The Sharks are coming off a 4-1 December and two wins were shutouts against the Lloydminster Steelers (6-10).
Katie Charko is the top point producer with 10 and is tied for the team lead in goals with Libby Langenhahn at five apiece.
