St. Albert minor hockey products Ryan Stanton and Turner Elson inked new NHL contracts last week.
Stanton, a 26-year-old defenceman, signed with the Washington Capitals and Elson, a 22-year-old left winger, resigned with the Calgary Flames. Both were one-year, two-way deals. Terms were not disclosed by their respective teams.
Stanton, an unrestricted free agent, played in 54 games with the Vancouver Canucks last season and recorded three goals, eight assists and 35 penalty minutes in his second year with the team.
In 119 career games with the Chicago Blackhawks and Vancouver, the former Moose Jaw Warrior has four goals, 27 points and 69 PIM.
Stanton was part of the Black Aces on the Blackhawks when they won the Stanley Cup in 2013.
He spent three seasons with the Rockford IceHogs, Chicago’s farm team in the American Hockey League, before making his NHL debut in the Blackhawks’ last game before the playoffs in 2013.
Elson, a restricted free agent, skated last season with the Adirondack Flames in the AHL and posted 17 goals, 30 points and 52 PIM in 59 games.
In 2013-14 the former Red Deer Rebel celebrated a Kelly Cup championship with the Alaska Aces in the East Coast Hockey League. He played 37 games with Abbotsford before being assigned to Alaska and in 21 playoff games registered seven goals and 11 points.
Stanton and Elson were both undrafted coming out of junior.
Saturday is the deadline to register online for the 26th annual St. Albert Triathlon on Aug. 9 at Fountain Park Recreation Centre.
As of Monday, 219 registrations have been confirmed through www.zone4.ca for the sprint distance (750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike and five-km run), try-a-tri (250m swim, 10-km bike and 2.5-km run) and relay team.
Last year’s triathlon, hosted by the St. Albert Road Runners and Triathlon Club, featured an all-time high of 363 registrants.
The sprint champion was Kevin Clark at 59 minutes and 18 seconds and Tammy Laubscher was the fastest female at 1:07:08 11th place overall.
Visit www.starrt.com for more information.
The St. Albert Mustangs achieved several podium finishes at the provincial track and field championships last weekend in Sherwood Park.
The medallists are as follows.
Jacob Brinkhof, 17, youth boys: gold – shot put; silver – hammer and discus; bronze – javelin.
Emmett Clarkin, 17, youth boys: gold – 4x100 metres.
Lewis Collin, 17, youth boys: gold – 4x100m; silver – long jump.
Talitha Collin, 18, youth girls: bronze – javelin.
Madelyn Curle, 16, youth girls: gold – high jump.
Ryder Horton, 15, midget boys: gold – 800m and 1,200m; youth boys: gold – 4x100m; midget boys: silver – 300m.
Catherine Kluyts, 16, youth girls: bronze – 100m hurdles.
Jace Mix, 17, youth boys: gold – 4x100m; bronze – long jump.
Tomas Peschke, 14, midget boys: gold – discus; silver – javelin.
Visit www.ellistiming.ca/SPTC/LiveResults/ for complete results.
The St. Albert Miners will defend their senior B provincial championship against the Rockyview Knights of Airdrie in the best-of-five Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League playoffs.
The fifth provincial final in six years for the Miners is tentatively slated to start Aug. 8 in Airdrie.
The winner advances to the Presidents’ Cup national championship, Aug. 31 to Sept. 5 at St. Catherines, Ont.
The Knights (14-2, including a default loss) and Miners (13-3) finished first and second, respectively, in league play. Two losses for the Miners were identical 9-8 scores against the Knights.
In the best-of-five north semifinals the Miners defeated the third-place Calgary Raiders (6-10) in four games and the Knights swept the fourth-place Calgary Mountaineers (6-10) in three straight.
Last weekend in Calgary the 2014 national bronze medallists recovered from a 9-7 loss in game three to wrap up the series with a convincing 12-4 decision.
The previous weekend the Miners opened the playoffs at Go Auto Arena with wins of 14-6 and 11-4.
In game four the Miners outscored the home team 4-1 in the first period and led 8-3 after two periods as Sean Reid’s hat-trick and four assists paced the attack.
Darren Kinnear added four goals and one assist, Spencer Lee potted a pair and Nick Petz, Aaron Duff and Tyler Douglas also scored.
In game three the Miners trailed 5-2 after the first and 8-6 entering the third.
Reid and Jordan Cornfield tallied twice and Douglas, Petz and Brett Reynar notched singles.
The Team Alberta contingent of athletes and coaches from St. Albert and area has been finalized for the Western Canada Summer Games, Aug. 7 to 16 at the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
The St. Albert reps are as follows.
Hayley Basterash (triathlon), Natalie Bender (softball), Jeremie Bennett (canoe/kayak), Lauren Cardinal (basketball), Emma Curle (athletics), Jenaya Fabrizi (canoe/kayak), Mack Flowers (swimming), Gord Gerlach (coach – baseball), Dan Gerlach (swimming), Frederik Kamminga (swimming), Georgia Kidd (swimming), Brooke Lang (soccer), Cara Lang (soccer), Ty Lindeman (badminton), Jacob Mackay (basketball), Zakaria Mahmoudi (coach – canoe/kayak), Jack McDougall (wrestling), Amy Nelson (swimming), Alexie Pusch (basketball), Celine Schmidt (swimming) and Spencer Unrau (athletics).
Sturgeon County participants include Alexandra Gagnon (judo), Nicholas Gagnon (judo) and Ken McLaughlin (manager – indoor volleyball).
Hailey Cornelis (indoor volleyball) of Legal is also going to the Games.
Visit www.2015woodbuffalo.com for more information.
