Midget 15 Flyers
The St. Albert Flyers skate into the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League championship tournament as winners of the Sutter North Cup provincial qualifier.The midget 15 Flyers are 29-6-6 overall when the second-place north division team plays the Leduc Oil Kings (19-16-6) tonight at 7:15 p.m. in Lethbridge.
Thursday’s games are 11 a.m. against the CBHA Rangers (30-10-1), the Sutter South Cup champions, and 7:15 p.m. against the Lethbridge Hurricanes (30-7-4), last year's provincial gold medallists.
The six-team round robin ends Friday against the Lloydminster Bobcats (13-17-11) at 8:30 a.m. and Rockyview Raiders (33-5-3), first-place finishers in the south division, at 4:30 p.m.
The semifinals are Saturday and Sunday’s medal finals are 11 a.m. for bronze and 1:45 p.m. for gold.
Visit http://minormidgetaaa.haprovincials.ca/home/ for the schedule and results.
Last year’s Flyers finished 42-6-1 as Sutter North Cup champions and provincial bronze medallists.
Midget AAA Slash
The St. Albert Ron Hodgson Slash are the defending midget AAA Alberta Female Hockey League champions when the puck drops Friday at the Final Frozen Four in Red Deer.The Slash plays the Red Deer Chiefs at 11:30 a.m. and Lloydminster Steelers at 6 p.m.
The four-team round robin wraps up Saturday at 9:45 a.m. against the Rocky Mountain Raiders.
Sunday’s medal games are 10 a.m. for bronze and 12:45 p.m. for gold.
Visit http://midgetfemaleaaa.haprovincials.ca/home/ for the schedule and results.
The provincial champion advances to the best-of-three Pacific Regional playoff, April 6 to 8 in British Columbia, for the right to compete at the 10th annual Esso Cup, April 21 to 29 in Bridgewater, N.S.
The Slash are the defending national champions.
In league play, the Raiders (24-4-2) finished first in the six-team standings, followed by the Slash (21-8-1) in second, Red Deer (16-9-5) was third and Lloydminster (16-11-3) placed fourth.
Bantam elite female
The bantam elite Alberta Female Hockey League provincials start Thursday for the St. Albert Raiders in Grande Prairie.Game times are 11:15 a.m. against the North Central Impact and 6:15 p.m. against the Peace Country Storm.
The Raiders also play Calgary Fire White at 3:30 p.m. Friday and the Rocky Mountain Raiders at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The six-team tournament ends with Sunday’s medal finals at 9 a.m. for bronze and 11:45 a.m. for gold.
Visit www.2018bantameliteprovincials.weebly.com for the schedule and results.
The Raiders (18-6-2) finished the regular season as the top team in the north division and second overall to Calgary Fire White (21-4-1) in the 12-team league.
Midget AA Crusaders
The St. Albert Source for Sports Crusaders punched their ticket to a pair of championships in last weekend’s playoff sweep in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League.The Crusaders qualified for provincials, March 29 to April 1 at Spruce Grove, and the NAMHL final after defeating the CAC by scores of 5-2 and 5-1 in the best-of-three Metro conference final.
The Crusaders have seven players back from last year's finalists at provincials and the NAMHL playoffs.
In Friday’s series opener, Rhys Mazur tallied once and added two assists against the CAC at Confederation Arena.
The second goal by Ryan Deets was an empty netter and Logan McKinley had two helpers.
Noah Fayad, the overtime hero in the 4-3 decision against the Sherwood Park Oilers in the final of the Besa division playoff tournament, and Hayden Laporte also scored.
Spencer Hutson (2-1, 2.35 GAA) stopped 23 of 25 shots as the Crusaders registered 36 shots.
Mazur paced the attack Sunday at Akinsdale Arena with one goal and three assists for a league-high 15 points in eight games.
McKinley, Deets (power play) Matt Kachmar and affiliate Matt Reidy (empty netter) also scored.
Deets added two assists for 12 points for third place in the playoff scoring race.
Shots were 43-24 for the Crusaders and Shane Zilka (4-0-1, 1.76 GAA) was in net.
The Crusaders were also missing three regulars in game two.
In league play, the Crusaders (20-9-3) finished second in the Besa division and the CAC (20-7-5) was first in the Anderson division.
The best-of-five final against the Beaumont Braves (22-4-6), first in the CanAccom division as the Rural conference playoff winners, will start the week after provincials.
Both teams are 6-1-1 in the playoffs and in the second-last game of the regular season the Crusaders fell 6-0 to Beaumont while outshot 32-18 in St. Albert.
Last year’s Crusaders lost the final in three games to the Strathcona Warriors.
The Crusaders also captured the 2014 NAMHL championship with a game five road win against the Peace River Royals and lost the 2015 final in the fifth and deciding game to the Royals in St. Albert.
