St. Albert Raiders netminder Pat Dea was honoured for a season of excellence by the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
Dea was named to the first all-star team and was awarded the Bill Ranford Trophy as the AMHL’s top goalie.
Previous winners of the Bill Ranford Trophy from the Raiders include Tanner Kovacs in 2011, Liam Liston in 2010 and Jamie McLennan in 1988.
In league play Dea (13-4-4 and one shutout) ranked third in goals-against average at 1.97 in 1,220 minutes played for the No. 1 defensive team in the north division. His .941 save percentage was No. 1 among AMHL goalies. He stopped 633 shots, 110 more than the next highest total.
In the playoffs the Grade 11 St. Albert Catholic High School student finished 6-5, with one shutout, 2.66 GAA and .921 save percentage for the north finalists.
The 22nd overall pick of the Edmonton Oil Kings as the first goalie taken in the 2012 Western Hockey League bantam draft started every playoff game for the Raiders.
The previous season Dea was selected as the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League’s most valuable player with the St. Albert Flyers.
Meanwhile, Raiders’ forward Matt McNeil of Spruce Grove was the recipient of a $1,500 AMHL scholarship. The AMHL awards one scholarship per team every year.
The Girls Prairie League Softball season-opening tournament is underway at the Meadowview and Henry Singer diamonds.
Fastball St. Albert is hosting the 30-team competition and the St. Albert Angels are represented in the U12, U14 and U16 divisions.
The first games for the Angels today are 9:45 a.m. in U12 at Meadowview, U14 at Henry Singer and U16 at Meadowview.
The Angels play five games in U12 and six games in the U14 and U16.
The tournament consists of 24 U12 games, 33 U14 games and 24 U16 games.
Visit www.gpls.ca or www.fastballstalbert.ca for schedules and results.
Today at 1:30 p.m. the St. Albert Drillers host the Calgary Axemen in junior B female lacrosse at Akinsdale Arena.
The Drillers are 2-1 and the Axemen are 0-1 in the Rocky Mountain league.
The Drillers are coming off a 10-4 loss to the junior A Sherwood Park Titans (3-0) Wednesday.
Down 3-2 after the first period the Drillers let in five unanswered goals by the perennial junior A champions.
Kennedie Wolosyn potted a pair and Janelle Wilk and Shayla Michayla also scored for the visitors. Morgan Crough was in net.
Tuesday the Drillers visit the Edmonton Senior Bandits (1-3) at 8:30 p.m. at Coronation Arena.
Last week the Drillers beat the Bandits 11-10 in St. Albert.
The St. Albert Women’s Soccer League fixtures start next week with a single division format for the first half of the season to determine the teams in the first and second tables.
Tuesday’s matches feature Mavericks 09 against the Cosmos and the Snipe versus the Devils at 6:30 p.m. at Forest Park field.
Wednesday it’s the Pink Ladies and Gini’s at 6:30 p.m. at Eldorado field.
Thursday the Kickers face Mavericks 95 and the Morinville Ladies challenge the Lady Titans at 6:30 p.m. at Forest Park.
