Raiders rolling
The St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders are back on the ice this weekend after a successful showing at the 40th annual Mac’s Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament in Calgary.The north division leaders in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League skate Saturday against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (6-17-2) at 2:30 p.m. at JRC Arena and Sunday against the KC Pats (13-9-2) at 2:15 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.
The Pats trail the Raiders (13-8-4) by two points with a game in hand.
The Raiders return to league play as semifinalists at the Mac’s after Sunday’s 1-0 loss on a third-period goal by the Red Deer Chiefs to finish 4-2 in the 25-team tournament.
Earlier in the day, the Raiders edged the Calgary Northstars 2-1 in the quarter-finals as Brady Nicholas recorded both goals.
Red Deer (5-2) lost the final 4-0 to the Regina Pat Canadians (5-0-2).
The Raiders were the top team in pool 1 after the 4-3 win against the Calgary Royals, 5-2 loss to the Tisdale Trojans and victories of 5-1 against the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds and 6-3 against the Hungarian national U18 team.
Defenceman Brett Bamber and forward Eddie Gallagher were named to the second all-star team and captain Mason Rezewski was a Mac’s scholarship recipient.
Gallagher led the Raiders in scoring with five goals and 10 points.
It was the first Mac’s appearance for the Raiders since going 3-2 as quarter-finalists in 2012/13.
Additional coverage of the Mac’s will appear in Saturday’s edition of the Gazette.
Junior B games
The St. Albert Merchants and Morinville Jets have 11 games remaining to prepare for the Capital Junior B Hockey League playoffs.Tonight the Jets (18-7-2) host the Edmonton Mustangs (10-14-3) at 8:30 p.m. at Ray McDonald Sports Centre and Friday the Merchants (15-12) face-off against the Strathcona Bruins (13-13-1) at 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
Sunday the Jets visit the Founders Cup champion Wetaskiwin Icemen (20-6-1) at 6 p.m. and the Merchants entertain the Stony Plain Flyers (12-14-3) at 8 p.m.
The last game before the playoffs is Feb. 6, when the Merchants and Jets clash in Morinville.
In the west division, the Jets are three points behind the first-place Beverly Warriors (20-5-1) and the Merchants are three points ahead of the fifth-place Flyers.
