St. Albert figure skaters were rewarded with high marks from the judges at nationals recently in Ottawa.
The novice ice dance pair of Natascha Collier, 13, and Lee Royer, 15, of the Ice Palace Figure Skating Club placed 12th in their national debut.
In junior pairs the Ice Palace duo of Chris Mostert, 18, and partner Taylor LeClaire, 16, of Tofield finished sixth.
Mostert was also marked eighth in junior men’s singles.
Courtney Royer, 18, and partner Addison Voldeng, 19, of Saskatoon placed 12th in junior dance. They train at the BC Centre of Excellence in Burnaby and competed for Saskatchewan.
The second-last home game before the playoffs for the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres is Sunday against the winless KC Squires.
Puck drop is 3:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Sabres (15-10-4), ranked third in the nitro north division, are guaranteed a playoff berth in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League’s best-of-three opening round.
The Sabres have three games remaining after Sunday’s match before the playoffs start.
The team’s first win after two losses was Thursday’s 5-2 decision against the Maple Leafs (4-22-2) in St. Albert.
Ryan Coop was the top scorer with one goal and two assists. Bret Mossing, Aidan Steinke, Evan Haimila and Jack Langenhahn, the team’s Source for Sports player of the month for December, also connected and Josh Antunes added two helpers.
The Sabres outshot the Leafs 39-29. In net was Chris Curr (6-4-4, 3.02 GAA)
The Sabres resumed league play Tuesday after going 0-4-1 as the only winless team at the John Reid Memorial Tournament and lost 1-0 to the Canadian Athletic Club (18-8-2) at Bill Hunter Arena.
A first period power-play goal was the difference.
The shot count was 36-33 for CAC. In net was Nate Reinhart (9-6, 2.27 GAA)
If the playoffs started today, the Sabres and CAC would meet in the first round.
Next week the St. Albert Curling Club hosts the Northern Alberta Curling Association’s master 60-plus men’s playdowns.
Draw times are 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The finals are 2 p.m. Thursday in A, Friday in B and Saturday in C.
The winners advance to provincials, Feb. 19 to 23 at Jasper Place.
Nationals are March 31 to April 6 in Coaldale.
The annual Fowler Classic junior high basketball tournament tips off Thursday afternoon at Richard S. Fowler and Ecole Secondaire Saint Marguerite d’Youville.
The draw features eight boys’ and eight girls’ teams.
The host Falcons are on the court Thursday against Greystone of Spruce Grove at 1:30 p.m. for the boys and 3 p.m. for the girls at Fowler.
The ESSMY Leopards, Vincent J. Maloney Marauders, Sturgeon Heights Eagles, Sir George Simpson Voyageurs and Meridian Heights and Blueberry of Stony Plain are also entered.
Saturday’s finals at Fowler are 1:30 p.m. for the girls and 3 p.m. for the boys.
