The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres bring a near-perfect record into today’s contest against the Lloydminster Heat in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League
Game time is 4:15 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Sabres (16-0-1) lead the way in the Nitro north division and the Heat (4-11-2) are last in the Charger north division.
The Sabres were winners of 16 games in a row before rallying to tie the Sherwood Park Flyers 5-5 Tuesday in St. Albert.
The Flyers (8-8-5), second in the Nitro standings, tallied twice in the third period, with the second goal scored on the power play at 6:21, and the Sabres replied with a pair 93 seconds apart to knot it at five.
Ethan Leyer capitalized with the man advantage and Matthew Savoie’s second goal and third point of the night at 13:35 was the tying maker.
The Flyers led 3-2 after 30 minutes as Carter Savoie potted a pair, including the first of three power-play goals for the Sabres.
Matthew pulled the Sabres even at three early in the second.
Leyer and captain Mike Benning collected two assists apiece.
Shot were 20-10 in the third and 38-23 overall for the Sabres.
Kyle Nelson (10-0-1, 2.32 GAA) was in net for 58 minutes and affiliate Carson Ironside made four saves during two minutes in the last period.
The Sabres are now 9-0-1 on home ice.
Sunday the St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders host the top south division team in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
Faceoff is 1:15 p.m. against the Foothills Bisons (16-0-2) of Strathmore at Akinsdale Arena.
The Raiders (7-10-1) are tied for second in the north standings when they play the Maple Leafs (5-11-1) today at 5:15 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
The Raiders skate into the weekend with a three-game winning streak.
The next home game for the St. Albert Merchants is Sunday in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Puck drop is 8 p.m. between the Merchants (11-9-1) and Beverly Warriors (15-6) at Akinsdale Arena.
The Merchants were slotted fourth in the west division before visiting the Leduc Riggers (5-14-2) Friday. The score was unavailable at press time.
The team’s road record was 6-4-1.
The Merchants were 1-3-1 in the past four games and averaged 3.86 goals for and 4.43 goals against this season before playing Leduc.
