The St. Albert Merchants forced a seventh and deciding game in the Capital Junior B Hockey League semifinal against the Wetaskiwin Icemen after pulling off two must-win games last weekend.
Tuesday’s score from Akinsdale Arena was unavailable at press time.
The winner plays the Sherwood Park Knights in the best-of-five Founders Cup championship and both teams will represent the league at provincials, April 4 to 7 in Wainwright.
Down 3-1 in the series after two losses in a row, the Merchants rose to the challenge to defeat the Icemen 5-3 Friday in St. Albert and 6-1 Sunday in Wetaskiwin.
The Merchants never trailed in game five while posting period leads of 4-1 and 5-2.
In the first frame A.J. Yariwon cashed in on the penalty kill and captain Brady Reid made it 2-0. Casey Reid and Brayden Switner on the power play with his first playoff goal closed out the period.
Kurtis Watts capitalized on the power play in the second.
Justin Pawlenchuk was the winning netminder.
In game six the Merchants scored six times in a row, with the last five goals coming on the power play, after the Icemen opened the scoring in the first minute of period two.
After Blair Macuch’s even-strength marker, Dan Rombough and Watts found the back of the net before the period ended and in the third Macuch, Rombough and Brady Reid connected.
Pawlenchuk (8-5, 3.06 GAA in 784 minutes played) started his 13th straight playoff game.
Tyson Greenway and Drew Kuzma struck twice as the St. Albert Lightning defeated the host Strathcona team 7-3 in Sunday’s final at the atom AA major provincial championship at the Ardrossan Recreation Complex.
The Lightning led 2-1 after the first and 4-3 entering the third.
Tanvir Harbaaz Grewal tied it at one in the opening period and Kuzma’s first goal broke a 3-3 tie with 4:42 left in the second. Michael Benning and Carter Savoie added insurance markers late in the third.
Greenway was named the Lightning’s player of the game.
In the semifinals the Lightning eliminated the Lethbridge Broncos 5-2.
The Lightning’s record was 5-1, with 47 goals and only 13 against. Their only loss was 5-4 to Strathcona in the pool A round robin.
The Edmonton Minor Hockey Association atom 1A Canadians Division champions finished the season at 48-6 overall.
The Morinville Wolves finished 1-2 at the 3A provincial high school women’s basketball championship after beating the host Strathmore Spartans in the opening round.
Down by five at halftime, the Wolves outscored the 10th-seeded Spartans 16-5 in the third quarter en route to the 58-55 win.
The Wolves focused on shutting down Strathmore’s top scorer and did a good job of pushing the ball up the floor and scoring in transition.
When the Spartans pushed back, the Wolves played smart basketball down the stretch. Their last five points were free throws, with Katrina Lessard draining the last two. She led the Wolves with 19 points. Kaitlyn Dryden and Kayla Schultz had eight apiece.
In the A bracket the Wolves fell 84-35 to the second-seeded McCoy Colts of Medicine Hat and 59-42 to the sixth-seeded Chestermere Lakers.
The Wolves lost both point guards to a stomach virus against McCoy and couldn’t keep up to the eventual silver medallists. Lessard led the way with 11 points and Amanda Kluthe notched six.
In the last game the Lakers turned a three-point lead into a 13-point spread in the first two minutes of the third quarter as fatigue set in on the shorthanded Wolves, who were slow to get rebounds.
Dryden recorded 10 points, Alyson Benson added nine and Arinn Young had seven for the seventh-seeded Wolves.
The North Central zone finalists finished 16-15 overall in their fourth trip to provincials in five years. They lose six players to graduation.
