Tier III north final
Today’s venue for the Tier III provincial north final between the St. Albert High Skyhawks and Holy Rosary Raiders of Lloydminster has been switched from Clarke Stadium to St. Albert.Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Larry Olexiuk Field and the Skyhawks are 8-0 on their home turf.
Holy Rosary (10-2) and the Skyhawks (8-2) are ranked second and third, respectively, in Tier III (450 to 749 students).
The north qualifier plays the No. 1 Cochrane Cobras (8-1) or the No. 6 Brooks Buffalos (5-4) in the Alberta Bowl championship next Saturday in Fort McMurray.
Cochrane is the winner of four consecutive Alberta Bowls and the only provincial final for the Skyhawks was the 2012 loss to Cochrane, 31-20 at Foote Field.
This year’s north final is the sixth in seven Tier III playoffs since 2011 for the Skyhawks and the fourth in a row against Holy Rosary. The results were 28-0 in 2015 at Lloydminster, 61-0 in 2016 at Clarke Stadium and 35-10 last year in the Border City for Holy Rosary.
In the north semifinals last weekend, the Skyhawks polished off the No. 9 Whitecourt Cats (5-4) of the Mighty Peace league 31-9 in St. Albert and Holy Rosary stomped the No. 5 Sylvan Lake Lakers (6-4) of the Central Alberta league 42-15 in Lacombe.
In league play, Holy Rosary is the Wheatland finalist after four-straight championship seasons and the Skyhawks are the metro Edmonton division two Miles conference finalists.
Men’s bonspiel
The 3 Son’s Tire & Auto Centre Men’s Bonspiel is good to go for 18 rinks this weekend at St. Albert Curling Club.Sunday’s final is 2 p.m. and a new champion will be crowned as last year’s winner, Nathan Molberg of St. Albert, is taking the weekend off from bonspieling after qualifying as the Team Alberta rep for the Canada Winter Games, Feb. 15 to March 3 at Red Deer.
This year’s bonspiel theme is Big Bucks.
Raiders at home
The St. Albert Nektar Data Systems Raiders wrap up a six-game homestand this weekend in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.Tonight the Raiders (6-6-2) host the Lethbridge Hurricanes (11-2), the 2018 AMHL champions and Telus Cup bronze medallists, at 8 p.m. and the Calgary Northstars (8-5-1) at 1:15 p.m. Sunday.
The Raiders, 2-2-2 in the last six games, are 4-2-2 on home ice and 2-4-2 against south division teams.
