Slash falls short
Friday’s bounce-back game for the midget AAA St. Albert Slash after the second loss of the season starts at 7:45 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena.The Slash (19-2-1) face off against the Edmonton Pandas (8-15) after Sunday’s 3-2 setback to the Calgary Fire (14-7-3) in the Alberta Female Hockey League halted a 12-game winning streak for the two-time defending Esso Cup national champions.
Jaden Bogden at even strength and Brooklyn Schroeder’s first of the season, a power-play strike, put the Slash up by two goals before Calgary potted three in a row in the second period and the last two were scored with the man advantage.
Brianna Sank (9-2-1, 1.08 GAA) faced 19 shots and the Slash directed 34 pucks at Calgary netminder Jessica Flegel (6-3-1, 1.98 GAA).
The day before in St. Albert, the Slash posted the team’s eighth victory in a row on home ice in the 4-1 decision against Red Deer Chiefs (8-13-3).
Power-play goals by Madison Willan and Mackenzie Kordic made it 2-0 before the Chiefs replied with the man advantage late in the second.
Isabelle Lajoie and Jaidia Pisani’s empty netter rounded out the scoring.
Alexis Butz picked up two assists.
Shots were 45-11 for the Slash with Holly Borrett (10-0, 0.80 GAA) tending the twine.
The next home game is Saturday versus the Rocky Mountain Raiders (4-18-2) at 2:15 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
Raiders lose two
The St. Albert Nektar Raiders dropped two games in a row for the first time since October during last weekend’s road trip in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.The Mac’s Cup champions fell short against the bottom two teams in the south division by scores of 3-1 to the Okotoks Oilers (14-11-4) and 5-4 to the Calgary Flames (12-13-2).
The results left the Raiders (15-11-4) tied with the Canadian Athletic Club (14-8-6) for first place in the north standings with two games in hand.
The Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (15-13-2) and Grande Peace Storm (14-11-4) are two points back of the co-leaders.
The top two teams in the north receive byes in the best-of-five opening playoff round.
The last two years the Raiders finished second and in the best-of-five north semifinals were eliminated by the Leduc Oil Kings.
The Raiders have four games remaining before league play ends Feb. 17.
Saturday the Raiders host the Airdrie Bisons (15-12-3) at 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena and the Canadian Mental Health Association will have a booth set up with awareness materials. Donations will also be accepted in support of the CMHA.
Players from the Raiders and midget AAA female St. Albert Slash recently trained in suicide awareness and sharing positive mental health messages in conjunction with today’s Bell Let’s Talk Day.
The loss in Okotoks ended a three-game winning streak for the Raiders as the Oilers scored three unanswered goals after captain Erik Boers opened the scoring in the first period. The first of two markers by the Oilers in the middle frame tied it at one on the power play.
Shots were 34-30 for the Raiders and Evan Fradette (6-5-1, 2.30 GAA) was in net.
The Raiders also outshot the Flames 36-24 with Andreai Proctor-Ramirez (8-5-3, 2.87 GAA) between the pipes.
The Flames broke a 3-3 tie early in the third on the power play and made it 5-3 with 8:10 to play.
Scoring for the Raiders were Logan McKinley on the power play and Mathew Rathbone, Carson Henry and Mathieu Gautier. Breck McKinley added two helpers.
Junior B playoffs
If the playoffs started today, the St. Albert Merchants would play the team that beat them four times this season by a combined score of 27-15.That is the situation the Merchants are facing with four games remaining and the best-of-three qualifying round against the Morinville Jets looming large in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Sunday’s 8-4 loss to the Jets at Ray McDonald Sports Centre was also the third setback in five games for the Merchants (12-18-4), ranked sixth in the seven-team west division.
The Jets (19-15-1) have third place sewed up as the Merchants and Stony Plain Flyers (14-19-2) jockey for the fifth and six positions to determine the opening round pairings. The Edmonton Mustangs (16-17-2) are a solid fourth.
The top two teams in the west and east division earn first-round byes.
League play ends Feb. 10.
The Jets have three games left, all at home, before the playoffs and the fourth win in five contests ended with five unanswered goals in the last 15:17 minutes of regulation time against the Merchants. Lee Gadoury tallied twice and assisted on goals by Josh Mcrae, his second of the contest, and Brett Dubuc’s league-high 39th.
Gadoury’s hat-trick marker in the third was his second power-play marker of the night to make it 6-4 with 4:03 to go.
Gadoury and Mcrae finished with five points apiece and Dubuc, the CJHL’s leading scorer with 77 points in 34 games, collected four assists.
It was 2-0 Jets on Josh Mcrae’s unassisted shorthanded effort in the opening minute and Zach Mcrae’s goal at 3:53 of the first when Kole Bryks, Jack Langenhahn and Cole Gupta replied for the Merchants before the period ended.
Ryan Deets made it 4-3 Merchants with 3:54 gone in the third before the Jets soared to victory.
Shots were 23-12 in the third and 49-41 overall for the Jets.
The netminders were Luke Hall (8-4, 3.37 GAA) of the Jets and Josh Dechaine (3-3, 3.45 GAA) of the Merchants.
The Jets also defeated the Merchants 6-3 Sept. 29 in St. Albert, 6-2 Nov. 17 in Morinville and 7-6 in overtime Dec. 14 in St. Albert.
The Jets were coming off Friday’s 5-0 loss to the Beaumont Chiefs (25-7-2), first in the east, as Colton Kucher of the Jets faced a game-high 31 shots and the two of the goals by the host team were potted on the power play.
The last game for the Merchants was the 3-2 shootout win against the Leduc Riggers (16-17-2) a week ago Sunday at Akinsdale Arena.
The Merchants skate at home Friday against the Mustangs and Sunday against the Wetaskiwin Icemen (24-6-2), winners of back-to-back CJHL champions. Game times are 8 p.m.
Sunday the Jets host the Beverly Warriors (26-8), first in the west, at 7:30 p.m.
Royals games
The St. Albert Royals return to action tonight after a break in the Rural & Edmonton Midget 15AA Hockey League schedule.Faceoff is 8:15 p.m. against the PAC Saints (3-18-3) at Go Auto Arena.
Saturday the Royals host the Camrose Vikings (3-17-4) at 2:30 p.m. at Mark Messier Arena and Sunday’s start time against the SPKAC Senators (17-6-1) is 4:45 p.m. in Sherwood Park.
The Royals (18-3-2) are second in the 11-team standings, 10 points behind the Hockey Central Panthers (22-1-4) with four games in hand.
Last year the Panthers swept the Royals in the best-of-five final.
The Panthers are based in central Alberta and the 2018 championship roster consisted of players from Lacombe, Sylvan Lake, Alix, Spruceview, Rocky Mountain House, Blackfalds, Eckville, Olds and Bentley.
This month’s 2-1-2 record for the Royals includes the 1-1 draw in Sylvan Lake and 6-1 loss in St. Albert against the Panthers.
Owen Bourque leads the Royals in scoring with 26 assists and 32 points while Luke Aston and Kaelan Shelton are the co-leaders in goals with 16 apiece.
Bourque, Aston, defenceman Mateo Valerio and netminders Jack Robinson (8-2-2, 1.73 GAA) and Ethan Weir (10-1, 2.03 GAA) represented the Royals in the REM all-star game earlier this month in St. Albert.
