The St. Albert Skyhawks served up a bronze medal at the 19th annual Lions Western Canadian Challenge high school volleyball tournament.
The metro Edmonton division one female team defeated the Spirit River Renegades 25-21, 25-16 in Saturday’s playoff at Bellerose Composite High School.
In the semifinals the Skyhawks fell 25-9, 16-25, 11-15 to the Beaverlodge Royals.
The Royals went on to defeat the Ernest Manning Griffins of Calgary 25-19, 25-16 for the tournament title.
In round-robin play the Skyhawks lost only one set to finish 5-0 and in the medal round swept the Barrhead Gryphons, who they beat 26-27, 25-11, 15-6 in pool B, and the Lacombe Rams for a semifinal berth.
In the women’s quarter-finals the tournament host Morinville Wolves lost 25-21, 16-25, 13-15 to Spirit River and the Bellerose Bulldogs were swept 24-26, 18-25 by Beaverlodge.
In the men’s quarter-finals the Sturgeon Spirits lost 23-25, 26-28 to the Bow Valley Bobcats, the eventual bronze medalists.
In the men’s consolation playoffs Morinville finished second in the 20-25, 20-25 loss to Ernest Manning and in the semifinals the Skyhawks succumbed 28-30, 22-25 to the Griffins.
The WWC tournament featured 24 men’s and 24 women’s teams. Visit [email protected] for results.
Meanwhile, in the metro league Monday the lady Skyhawks (6-2) dropped a 3-2 decision to the undefeated Strathcona Lords in Edmonton. The Lords are ranked third in 4A and the Skyhawks are a 3A team.
Tuesday the Skyhawks played the Bev Facey Falcons (5-3) in Sherwood Park, but the score was unavailable at press time.
Today at 4:45 p.m. the Skyhawks visit the Salisbury Sabres (4-4).
The senior AA Morinville Kings spent most of their season opener against the Devon Barons in the penalty box during Friday’s 7-2 loss in the North Central Hockey League.
The defending league champions capitalized four times on the power play and the Kings finished 0-for-4 with the man advantage.
The Kings racked up 14 infractions for 80 minutes and the Barons were penalized seven times for 14 minutes.
Tim Nolte, a former St. Albert Saints’ captain, didn’t even finish the first period after he was tagged for 45 PIM, including a game misconduct with 30 seconds left in the frame.
Adam Tomkow, another Alberta Junior Hockey League product, finished the loss with 21 PIM.
The Kings led 2-1 after 20 minutes on goals credited to Justin Paul and Tyler Nault.
The home team scored four times in the second stanza and twice in the third.
Jordan Panasiuk started in net and was replaced by Curtis Ronaldson midway through the third.
The Kings were 1-1-1 in pre-season play before making their league debut.
The Barons, formerly the Legal Vipers, are 1-1 after losing 7-5 to the Drayton Valley Wildcats (2-0) Saturday.
The Kings have two games on tap this weekend. They play the Whitecourt Wild (1-0) Friday in Mayerthorpe and Saturday host the Westlock Warriors (1-0) at the Ray McDonald Sports Centre. Game times are 8:30 p.m.
The third shutout in six games for the St. Albert Sabres was Sunday’s 3-0 decision against the Maple Leafs at Akinsdale Arena.
Nate Reinhart (3-2, 2.01 GAA) faced 31 shots to post his second shutout of the season in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
Zach Marano, Ryan Cooper and Landon Bishop scored against the Maple Leafs (1-6-1) and Josh Antunes added two assists as the Sabres improved to 4-4-1 for third place in the nitro north standings.
Saturday the Sabres host the Canadian Athletic Club (4-4) at 3:45 p.m. and Sunday they play the reigning league, provincial and western Canadian champion SSAC Southgate Lions (7-1) at 5:45 p.m. at Millwoods Arena.
The St. Albert Flyers remain undefeated in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League after last weekend’s homestand at Akinsdale Arena.
The north division-leading Flyers (4-0-2) extended their winning streak to four games by blanking the Grande Prairie Storm 5-0 Sunday.
Joshua Dechaine stopped 21 shots against the Storm (1-4-1) with offence by Ethan Marino, Sean Richards Jaedon Leslie, Connor Deighton and Ryan Cox. Jake Warawa, Zach Webb and Cox had three assists apiece.
The day before, the Flyers downed the SSAC Bulldogs 5-3 in the team’s home opener.
Richards’ second goal of the game broke a 3-3 tie with 4:15 to play. He also assisted on Warawa’s empty net goal.
Zach Sherburne and Zach Tisi also scored and Matt Murray made a game-high 41 saves against the Bulldogs (0-4-1).
The next home game is Saturday versus the Rockyview Raiders (2-3) from the south division at 6:15 p.m.
