The St. Albert Lightning skate into the atom AA major provincials with a 43-5 record after winning their Edmonton Minor Hockey Association final last weekend.
Friday at provincials in Strathcona the Lightning played the Fort McMurray Jr. Oil Barons and SWAT Spitfires in pool A, but scores were unavailable at press time.
Today the Lightning face-off against the Red Deer Chiefs at 10:30 a.m. and the host Strathcona Warriors at 3:30 p.m.
The top two teams in pools A and B advance to the semifinals Sunday morning. The final is 4 p.m. at the Ardrossan Recreation Complex.
The Lightning won the right to represent zone 3 at provincials with a 7-6 two-game total-goal series victory over the St. Albert Barons.
The Lightning are coming off a 4-3 decision over the Spitfires for the EMHA atom 1A Canadians Division championship. Austin Spiridakis scored twice and Drew Kuzma and Carter Savoie added singles.
The win was the fourth in four playoff games for the Lightning after going 8-0 in round one, 5-1 in round two and 8-0 in round three in league play.
Jack Hanna of the Bellerose Bulldogs was awarded a bonze medal at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association wrestling championships last weekend at W.P. Wagner High School.
The Grade 11 football and rugby standout competed in the 120-kilogram category after placing first at the Edmonton zone meet in Stony Plain.
In the 82-kg category, Conor McIntyre of the Paul Kane Blues finished fourth at provincials after placing sixth last year as the only Grade 10 grappler in his division.
Hanna and McIntyre are eligible to complete at the cadet/juvenile wrestling championships, April 4 to 7 in Saskatoon. Last year McIntyre was the silver medallist in the U16 cadet 80-kg division at Fredericton, NB.
The U16 Tier 4 Carroll and U14 Tier 6 Johnston teams from St. Albert won their respective divisions at the EMSA/CMSA intercities indoor soccer championships last weekend in Edmonton.
The U16 girls finished 3-0 in their four-team round robin. They posted two shutouts while outscoring the opposition 9-1 for top spot in group A.
The 5-1 win over the Foothills Phantoms in the last round robin game capped off the second intercities indoor championship in a row for the U16s. They were undefeated in league play, including a 3-0 playoff mark, and won of the group C division at the Edmonton Polar Cup tournament.
The U14 girls posted a 2-0-1 record to place first in their four-team round robin in group C. They scored 12 goals and let in only three while recording a shutout in the tournament opener, 5-0 against their Edmonton rivals, Woodvale.
The last game, 5-1 over the Cal-Glen Wildkats of Calgary, clinched the championship. Defenceman Brooklynn Johnston potted a pair and McKenna Grossenbacher, Taelyn Yaremchuk and Krista Villeneuve also scored. In net was Amanda Doehring.
The team’s overall record is 18-5-4. The U14s went undefeated in rounds two and three in the EMSA regular season and were the runner’s up in the playoffs at 1-1-1. They were also victorious at the St. Albert Family Day Classic and the Edmonton Slush Cup tournaments.
Finishing fourth at intercities were the U16 Tier 6 Sorensen girls in group C and the U18 Tier 6 Findling girls in group B.
