Team Alberta
The Lajoie siblings of St. Albert made their respective provincial hockey teams for the Canada Winter Games.Marc is a defenceman with Northern Alberta X-Treme Prep in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League and Isabelle is a centre with the midget AAA St. Albert Slash in the Alberta Female Hockey League and the two-time defending Esso Cup national champions.
Their father, Serge, is the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers in the Western Hockey League. Serge was a defenceman for the Alberta Golden Bears for five seasons who also coached the university team the past three seasons, culminating in a U SPORTS championship in 2018.
Joining Isabelle on the U17 female roster are Slash forwards Jaden Bogden of Edmonton and Brooklyn Schroeder of Whitecourt.
The U16 male roster for the CWG includes X-Treme Prep forwards Matt Savoie and Zack Ostapchuk of St. Albert.
Overall, 12 of the 20 U16 Team Alberta selections play in the CSSHL and another four spent the 2017-18 season in the CSSHL
Savoie, a second-year peewee with the 2016-17 bantam AAA St. Albert Gregg Distributors that included Lajoie and Ostapchuk in the lineup, is considered the No. 1 player in the 2019 WHL bantam draft.
Savoie, who turns 15 on Jan. 1, has produced 23 goals and 50 points in 21 games playing in the CSSHL midget division.
The Canada Winter Games are Feb. 15 to March 3 in Red Deer.
Basketball games
The metro Edmonton high school basketball season tips off Monday with the St. Albert showdown between the Bellerose Bulldogs and St. Albert Skyhawks.The division two men’s match starts at 6:30 p.m. at the SkyDome.
Bellerose won the last two tilts with the Skyhawks by scores of 70-64 and 78-56 and both games were played at the home of the Bulldogs.
Last season in division two, Bellerose finished 9-5 as league finalists and the Skyhawks were 4-8 as quarter-finalists.
In division three, the lady Bulldogs host the J. Percy Page Panthers at 5:30 p.m.
The Bellerose women’s team is coming off a 12-1 season as league finalists after going 8-4 as the 2017 finalists.
In the division one women’s opener, the Paul Kane Blues visit the Jasper Place Rebels at 5:30 p.m.
Paul Kane, the Rebels and St. Albert Skyhawks finished in a three-way tie for top spot in the division one standings at 10-1.
Paul Kane, the 2018 4A provincial consolation champions, lost the division one semifinal by 13 points to the Rebels.
Paul Kane and the Skyhawks hoop up Feb. 20 at the SkyDome.
Royals at home
The St. Albert Royals can pad their first-place point totals in the Rural & Edmonton Midget 15AA Hockey League with a victory today against the last-place Strathcona Warriors.Faceoff is 2:30 p.m. at Mark Messier Arena
The Royals (13-2) are winners of three straight and Strathcona (0-12-2) has lost six in a row.
The Royals are coming off Wednesday’s 5-1 decision over the Maple Leafs (4-5-3) at Millwoods Arena.
Kaelan Shelton potted a pair during a four-point performance and Lucas Sadownyk, Angke He and Anwar Moukhaiber notched singles.
The shot count was 30-24 for the Royals with Jack Robinson (7-1, 1.35 GAA) in net.
Meanwhile, Luke Aston leads the REMHL in goals with 15 and is third in points with 23 and Owen Bourque is tied for fourth with 22 points.
Nico Gallo’s 19 points and Sadownyk’s 10 goals also rank high on the Royals.
Last season the Royals (18-7-2) finished third in the standings and in the playoffs lost the best-of-five final in three games to the first-place Hockey Central Panthers (19-4-4).
