The St. Albert Raiders host the Maple Leafs today in the last game before the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs.
Faceoff is 1:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Raiders (16-14-3) are second and the Maple Leafs (9-17-6) are sixth in the north division.
The Raiders and first-place Sherwood Park Kings (23-6-3) have first-round byes for berths in the best-of-five north semifinals.
The last time the Raiders finished second in the north was 2012/13 at 19-9-6.
The Raiders are 6-1-2 in 2017 and their last game was Sunday’s 5-0 loss to the south division Foothills Bisons (23-6-3) in Strathmore.
Garrett Clegg of the Raiders is tied for the league lead in goals with 20 and is the team’s top point producer with 31 in 31 games.
The St. Albert Minor Hockey Association’s inaugural No Hit Midget Tournament is underway at the Akinsdale, Kinex, Mark Messier and Go Auto arenas.
SAMHA is represented by the Warriors (8-6-3) and Flyers (12-6) of the Hetchler midget 4A interlock division in Hockey Edmonton.
The Warriors are in pool A with the Cochrane Rockies, Vancouver Thunderbirds and Canmore Eagles.
Friday the Warriors played Cochrane and today’s game times are 8 a.m. against Vancouver at Akinsdale and 6:15 p.m. against Canmore at Kinex.
The first game for the Flyers was Friday against Beaumont and today’s contests are against Airdrie at 8:45 a.m. at Mark Messier and Bow River at 7:45 p.m. at Go Auto.
Friday’s scores were unavailable at press time.
The 18-game draw ends with Sunday’s crossover playoffs. The bottom two teams in both pools pair off in two consolation matches and the A-side semifinals are 9:45 a.m. at Go Auto and Mark Messier. The third-place game is 2:30 p.m. at Akinsdale and the final is 4 p.m. at Go Auto.
The bantam elite St. Albert Raiders skate twice this weekend in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
Tonight the Raiders (19-3-1) play the Sherwood Park Royals (15-6-2) at 7:30 p.m. at Troy Murray Arena and Sunday they visit the North Central Impact (8-14) at 12:30 p.m. in Leduc.
The Raiders are 7-1-1 in 2017 as the top team in the north division and Calgary Fire White (19-2-3) is the south division leader.
The Raiders wrap up league play Feb. 25 against the Red Deer Chiefs (6-14-2) in Penhold.
