The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres rattled the competition with a pair of victories Thursday at John Reid Memorial Tournament.
The host team for the 39th annual bantam AAA tournament doubled the Okanagan Hockey Academy of Edmonton 8-4 and edged the Colorado T-Birds 2-1 on Ryley Morgan’s game winner with 5:14 to play.
The results set the stage for Friday’s first-place showdown in the Kal-Tire division of the John Reid pool against the Yale Hockey Academy of Abbotsford.
The defending champion was also 2-0 after wins of 9-0 against Colorado and 5-2 against OHA.
Friday’s score was unavailable at press time.
Both teams are in action this morning in the quarter-finals to determine this afternoon’s semifinalists.
The final is 2 p.m. Sunday at Go Auto Arena.
Visit www.johnreidmemorial.com for the A, B and C playoff schedules.
The Sabres – 26-1-2 (173 GF/54 GA) as the No. 1 team in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League – have been locked in on winning championship honours since the start of the season.
“We have a mountain chart with our smaller goals and then there is the John Reid at the top and our (league) playoffs too,” said left-winger Ethan Whillans.
The only St. Albert team to pull off the feat was the 1983 Territorial Leasing Sabres.
“It’s a big tournament. There are teams here from everywhere and good teams too so we want to do really well in it,” Whillans said.
“It’s like a stepping stone for us,” added Ethan Leyer, a right winger. “It will help us make our team better going on to our league play by playing against some of these other teams that we don’t usually play against.”
The Sabres pushed through their tournament opener with a strong finish against OHA.
“It started off tough and then it went back and forth and then we potted a couple and got the momentum going,” said Whillans, who tallied twice in the third period to make it 6-3 with 10:08 to play. “We just kept building throughout the game.”
Carter Savoie opened the scoring in the first and goals by Leyer and Morgan during a 12-second span in the second put the Sabres on top 3-1.
A power-play marker by Ethan Edwards ended the period with the Sabres in front 4-3.
Edwards and Leyer also found the back of the net in the third before the OHA struck on the power play with 3:19 to go.
Morgan, captain Mike Benning, Matt Savoie and Austin Spiridakis pitched in with two assists apiece.
Shots were 27-25 for the Sabres and the first goal by OHA against netminder Ethan Barwick was a penalty shot.
“It was a close game and then we got a couple more goals and just kept pushing,” Leyer said of the morning contest with a large contingent of vocal St. Albert elementary students in attendance.
“It was a little nerve-wracking going out for warm-up with all the kids screaming and cheering but it helped us out,” Leyer said.
The next game against Colorado “was going to be a big one,” Whillans said after the win against OHA and the Sabres came through in the clutch after falling behind in the first frame. Leyer tied it up, with the Savoie brothers assisting on the goal, and Morgan broke the stalemate on the power play with Tyson Kowaluk and Mathieu Gautier drawing assists.
The shot count was 31-13 for the Sabres and Kyle Nelson was in net.
It was another example of why the Sabres are considered the team to beat in the AMBHL in their quest to become the first St. Albert squad since 1999 to sweep the league and provincial titles.
“If you just keep working hard the wins will come,” Leyer said. “It’s fun to be always trying hard and winning.”
The Sabres are having a blast as their success continues to skyrocket.
“It’s great to play with a great team with great guys,” said Whillans, who played bantam AA for the Grande Prairie Storm last season.
Whillans, 14, has found a home on a scoring line with Morgan (24 goals, 52 points) and Spiridakis (25 goals, 48 points) and in league play the Grade 9 Richard S. Fowler student has eight goals and 17 points.
Another offensive juggernaut combination consists of Matt Savoie (28 goals, 50 points), a second-year peewee, flanked by Carter (20 goals, 56 points) and Leyer (30 goals, 56 points).
Leyer, 14, is tied for second in goals in the AMBHL and shares seventh place in points with Carter.
“Myself and Matthew Savoie have been playing together the whole year and we’ve been getting our chemistry together. His brother, Carter, will come on to our line every now and then. He’s on our line right now and it seems like we have some success with him as well,” said Leyer, a Grade 9 Fowler student who skated for the bantam AA St. Albert Blues last season.
