The St. Albert Merchants skate into the Christmas break with two games in three days this week in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
The Merchants (13-9-3) play the Stony Plain Flyers (10-11-3) at 8:30 p.m. tonight at Glenn Hall Centennial Arena and Friday they host the Edmonton Mustangs (7-18) at 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Merchants, fourth in the west division, are 3-0-2 in their last five games after banking consecutive victories for the first time since a five-game winning streak spanning late September and early October.
Scores were 4-0 against the Strathcona Bruins (6-18-1) Friday in St. Albert and 4-3 against the Spruce Gove Regals (6-17-2) Sunday at Grant Fuhr Arena.
Ethan Crotty (6-4, 4.08 GAA) posted the Merchants’ first shutout of the season with 18 saves against Strathcona, the bottom east division team.
The Merchants are averaging 4.32 goals against and 3.96 goals scored.
The team’s road record is 7-4-2 after defeating the Regals, last in the west, as Ryan Cooper sniped the winner with six seconds left in regulation time.
The midget elite St. Albert Sharks close out the 2016 portion of their Alberta Female Hockey League schedule Friday at Troy Murray Arena.
Faceoff is 8:15 p.m. against the Lloydminster Steelers (1-9-1).
The sixth loss in a row for the Sharks (6-9) was Monday’s 3-1 decision against the Sherwood Park Fury (9-2-1) in St. Albert.
The Sharks are ranked third in the north division.
The St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders will be collecting children’s toys for Toys for Tots and non-perishable food items for the St. Albert Food Bank this weekend at Akinsdale Arena.
Donation bins will be located in the arena lobby during the team’s last games before the Christmas break on Saturday against the Grande Peace Storm (7-11-3) at 3 p.m. and Sunday against the Calgary Buffaloes (15-2-4) at 1:15 p.m.
The Raiders (9-12-1) are tied for second in the north division after their fifth win in seven games, 6-0 on the road against the Calgary Northstars (10-9-2) Sunday.
Chris Curr (8-7, 2.48 GAA) faced 38 shots while recording his second shutout in his last four starts.
Logan Hunter tallied twice and Peter Michailides, Garrett Clegg, Cole Gupta and Zane Avery also scored.
The day before, the Raiders lost 8-0 to the host Calgary Flames (13-7-1).
