Flyers repeat
The St. Albert Flyers are winging it to provincials as the repeat winners of the Sutter North Cup in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.The Flyers finished the north division provincial qualifying tournament undefeated in five games by defeating the Leduc Oil Kings 3-1 in Sunday’s final in Fort Saskatchewan.
The Flyers (24-6-6), Leduc (16-14-6) and the Lloydminster Bobcats (11-15-10) in the north join the CBHA Rangers (26-9-1), Rockyview Raiders (29-4-3) and the host Lethbridge Hurricanes (28-5-3) in the south division at the midget 15 provincials starting next Wednesday.
Last year in Grande Prairie, Lethbridge won provincials and the Flyers finished third.
The Flyers return to provincials after Dylan McFatridge tallied twice in the second period and assisted on Robert Kincaid’s goal in the third against Leduc. Noah Wilson added two assists.
Shots were 19-16 for Leduc as Ethan Barwick finished the tournament with five wins, including three shutouts in a row, for a sparkling 0.80 GAA and .964 save percentage.
Barwick stopped 21 shots in Thursday’s 4-3 pool B opener against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers as Taige Harding snapped a 3-3 deadlock with 8:49 to play.
After the Rangers tied it at three at 5:59 in the third, Barwick didn’t let in a goal until the final when Leduc found the back of the net at 2:10 of the third.
Barwick’s shutout streak included 25 saves in Friday’s 1-0 decision against Leduc, followed by Saturday’s 24 saves in the 3-0 victory against the CAC and 19 saves in the 4-0 semifinal against Lloydminster.
Barwick registered two shutouts in the regular season while going 17-5-3 with a 2.33 GAA and .917 save percentage for the second-place Flyers in the north.
The second of two goals by Ronin Pusch against Lloydminster was produced on the power play,
Ethan McKinley also potted a pair against the CAC and Mathieu Gautier scored late in the first against Leduc.
Harding and Maddux Nollski led the Flyers in tournament scoring with five points apiece.
Final Frozen Four
The St. Albert Ron Hodgson Slash are one step closer to repeating as Alberta Female Hockey League champions after qualifying for the midget AAA Final Frozen Four tournament in Red Deer.The Slash qualified for the March 22 to 25 AFHL provincials with wins of 2-0 and 3-1 against the Edmonton Pandas (5-20-3) last weekend in St. Albert.
The Slash (21-8-1) are competing against the Rocky Mountain Raiders (24-4-2), Lloydminster Steelers (16-11-3), Calgary Fire (8-18-4) and the host Red Deer Chiefs (16-9-5) for the right to represent Alberta at the best-of-three Pacific Regional playoff, April 6 to 8 in British Columbia.
The winner advances to the 10th annual Esso Cup, April 21 to 29 in Bridgewater, N.S., and the Slash are the defending national champions.
The Slash polished off the Pandas as McKenzie Hewitt’s first of two goals opened the scoring on the power play in game one and Camryn Drever faced 16 shots for her third shutout of the season.
MacKenzie Butz, Tyra Meropoulis and Jaden Bogdan scored in game two and Drever stopped 24 shots.
Drever, the recipient of the top netminder award at nationals with four shutouts while giving up one goal in five games, led the AFHL with a 1.34 GAA this season..
Royals in final
The St. Albert Royals crowned the Strathcona Warriors for a berth in the Rural & Edmonton Midget 15AA Hockey League final.The Royals swept the best-of-five semifinal by scores of 9-0, 6-1 and 9-3.
The best-of-five championship starts Saturday against the Hockey Central Panthers or CAC Volvo.
The Panthers hold a 2-1 series lead entering game four tonight.
In league play, the Panthers (19-4-4) finished first, the Royals (18-7-2) placed third, CAC (11-15-1) tied for sixth and Strathcona (5-21-1) was last in the 10-team standings
Hayden Carlson is the top REM 15 playoff scorer with eight goals and 15 points for the 7-0 Royals.
Ashton Blais is second in scoring with seven goals and 12 points and Carter MacDonald is tied for third with 11 points.
Cole Crozier has been steady in net with six wins, 1.57 GAA and .914 save percentage.
AFHL Raiders
The bantam elite St. Albert Raiders skate into provincials ranked second overall in the Alberta Female Hockey League.Provincials are March 22 to 25 in Grande Prairie.
The north division Raiders (18-6-2) finished second behind the south division Calgary Fire White (21-4-1) in league play.
The Raiders are coming off a weekend series victory by outscoring the Edmonton Pandas 4-2 in two games in St. Albert.
Natalie Kieser tallied once and assisted on goals by Kali MacDonald (power play) and Bronwyn Boucher as netminder Layla Hood was tested only nine times by the Pandas (14-11-1) in the 3-0 win.
In game two, Regan Ackroyd (power play) knotted the score at two in the last minute of the middle frame and Hood finished with 14 saves in the 2-1 loss.
