The longest winning streak of the season lifted the St. Albert Merchants into third place in the west division of the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
The fourth victory in a row was Sunday’s 6-2 decision against the Beverly Warriors at Akinsdale Arena.
The Money Men (18-10-2) are now one point ahead of Beverly (17-10-3) and five back of the second-place Edmonton Mustangs (21-7-1) with eight games left until the playoffs.
It was a huge weekend against division rivals as the Merchants grounded the Morinville Jets 7-3 Friday in St. Albert.
“The character shown this weekend was as good as you could ask for. The players played on the edge but managed to keep their focus and discipline throughout two tough games. The willingness to engage in a competitive manner without crossing the line isn’t always easy but it appears the team is starting to understand what it takes to do this,” said head coach Scott Rodda.
Ty Clelland (15-10, 3.67 GAA) was razor sharp between the pipes in both wins. The over-age (21-year-old) Merchant was tested 33 times by the Jets and faced 18 shots by Beverly.
“Ty provided timely saves and the kind of goaltending a team needs to be successful,” Rodda said. “Ty is a veteran of this league and I think it’s clear he understands that down the stretch into the playoffs you need to be peaking and providing solid goaltending. The fourth-year player is determined to leave his junior career on a positive note and it’s obvious how important it is to him to be that guy that can be counted on.”
Beverly opened and closed the scoring and in between the goals Jake Mercier (16th), Tyler Mork (fourth), Thomas Rotundo (13th), Casey Reid (13th), Brendan Passek (eighth) and Steve Knoblauch (second) replied for the Merchants.
It was 1-1 after the first period and 4-1 after 40 minutes.
The teams combined for 21 infractions for 106 penalty minutes.
“It was not a surprise the game got a bit testy at times as both teams refused to back down from one another in yet another spirited contest,” Rodda said.
Five unanswered goals by the Merchants turned a 3-2 deficit with under six minutes left in the middle frame into the team’s third victory in four games against the Jets (13-16-1) this season.
Matt Havens (24th) and Mork cued the comeback in the second and Reid, Jared Kwasney (eighth) and Mason Kenny (ninth) sealed the deal.
Reid and captain Dan Rombough added two assists apiece.
The Merchants were 3-for-9 on the power play and the Jets were 1-for-7.
The Merchants are 9-2-1 against the Jets since the 2013/14 season.
“We always have tough games against Morinville and Friday night was no different. It was a game with lots of emotions and hard hitting. Both teams compete hard and don’t like backing down from one another so it always proves to be an entertaining game,” said Rodda, a former Jets’ bench boss.
Tyler Hagel, Scott Woloshyn and Riley Van Brabant of the Jets found the back of the net and Craig Hills drew two assists. Jordan Greenfield was credited with 35 saves.
The fifth-place Jets rebounded to blank the Mustangs 4-0 Sunday in Morinville as Greenfield (6-6, 4.06 GAA) blocked 20 shots for his first shutout of the season.
Hagel potted his 32nd and 33rd goals of the season, Brandon Dubuc sniped his 28th and Brett Dubuc also scored as the Jets racked up 44 shots on net. Lee Gadoury also collected two assists.
Hagel and Brandon Dubuc are ninth and 10th in the CJHL scoring race with 53 and 51 points, respectively.
Tonight the Jets play the Edmonton Royals (23-6), the top team in the east, at 8 p.m. at Confederation Arena.
Sunday’s game against the last-place Spruce Grove Regals (4-24-2) starts at 7:30 p.m. at Grant Fuhr Arena.
The Merchants close out a three-game homestead Friday against the Regals at 8 p.m. and Sunday they visit the Mustangs at 8 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
ICE CHIPS: The CJHL’s rookie and all-star games are slated for Saturday in Fort Saskatchewan.
Mercier, Cam Mazur and Daniel Spatafora will represent the Merchants in the rookie game starting at noon and Rombough, Reid and Havens were selected for the 4 p.m. all-star game.
Sam Chorney, Brett Dubuc and Taylor Holterhus are the Jets in the rookie game and Greenfield, Hagel, Brandon Dubuc and Jordan Rooke are playing in the all-star game.
The skills competition starts at 2:15 p.m.
