The St. Albert Merchants have all the pieces in place during a rebuilding season to construct a playoff championship in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
The Merchants compiled a 24-12-2 record for third place in the west division and Friday they host the Stony Plain Flyers in the best-of-three preliminary round. Puck drop is 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
Dates and times for the rest of the series were unavailable at press time.
The Merchants wrapped up league play with five wins in a row, matching their longest winning streak of the season, after defeating the Flyers 5-3 and Fort Saskatchewan Hawks 8-5 in St. Albert.
“Balanced scoring and solid goaltending continued to be the case this weekend,” said head coach Scott Rodda. “In both games we had strong third periods to close the deal and we will need to continue to show that kind of patience in the playoffs. The character that it takes to win playoff hockey includes the ability not to panic when things are not going so easy and keeping the focus and discipline to stick to the game plan despite adversity. The guys are buying into the systems and really working well as a team so this hopefully will bode well for us against Stony.”
The Flyers placed sixth in the west at 11-22-4 and were 0-3-1 against the Merchants.
Last year the Flyers knocked off the Merchants, the top team in the regular season, in the best-of-five quarter-finals and all three wins were in St. Albert.
“They’re built similar to us. They’ve got a lot of skill and a lot of character players. It will be a good test for our team in the first round,” said centre Taylor Lotoski, a first-year Merchant. “We have a lot of depth and we’ve definitely got guys who know their roles and when everyone buys in I think we can go a long way in the playoffs.”
Thomas Rotundo potted the winner with 7:55 to play and Lotoski’s sixth goal in eight games as a Merchant, an unassisted shorthanded effort with 1:24 remaining, sealed the deal Friday against the Flyers.
Liam Mowatt tied it at one in the first period and captain Dan Rombough scored on the power play in the second.
In the third, Cam Mazur made it 3-2 with the man advantage and less than three minutes later the Flyers replied with the Merchants shorthanded.
Matt Havens assisted on both power play markers for the Merchants.
Shots were 12-4 for the Merchants in the third and 36-24 overall. In net was Ty Clelland (18-12, 3.63 GAA).
The teams combined for 17 infractions for 66 penalty minutes.
“There was definitely a lot of intensity that game. We knew these guys were possibly going to be our first round challengers so there was definitely that playoff atmosphere. We didn’t take them lightly and we ended up taking the win,” Lotoski said.
Sunday’s contest against the Hawks, ranked fourth in the east standings at 20-15-2, was decided on goals by Mazur (21st) on the power play, Rotundo (18th), Brenden Passek (13th) and Casey Reid (17th) shorthanded in the third before the visitors replied on the power play with 4:45 to go.
Jake Mercier (17th) and Reid knotted it at two in the first and Rotundo and Jared Kwasney (10th) pulled the Merchants even at four in the second.
Reid registered three points overall and Havens picked up three assists. Havens is the team’s top scorer with 27 goals and 61 points in only 28 games.
The shot count was 39-25 for the Merchants and Ryen Papirny (6-2, 3.45 GAA) was between the pipes.
The win was the 10th in 12 games as the Merchants improved to 12-7 on home ice.
“I don’t want to say we’re peaking but we’ve really stepped it up the last little bit of the season. It’s good to get some momentum going into the playoffs because it’s the right time for everyone to start connecting with each other and playing as a team,” said Lotoski.
The midget AAA product of the St. Albert Raiders racked up four assists against the Hawks for 18 points since joining the Money Men after splitting the season with the Lloydminster Bobcats (three goals, five assists in 21 games) in the AJHL and Nipawin Hawks (four goals, four assists in 12 games) in the SJHL.
“Hopefully I can keep it going into the playoffs,” Lotoski said. “I owe a lot to my teammates. They’ve helped me out a lot, just letting me know where they are on the ice.”
Lotoski, 20, broke into the AJHL last season with the Spruce Grove Saints and after appearing in 29 games (three goals, four points) was dealt to the Bobcats, where he played in 16 games (two goals, four points). Lotoski decided to return home after Nipawin dealt him to the Kindersley Klippers on Jan. 10.
“It was a good experience. I played for some high end teams, some great coaches and some great players but eventually there is a time where you just want to come home and see family and friends and start school and work,” said the Bellerose Composite High School grad. “It’s been great so far (playing junior B). It’s pretty smooth. It’s not much of an adjustment to make. I find you have a lot more time now to make plays but it’s still a good league to play in. There is definitely challenges in every league you have to face.”
