Tier III football provincials for Skyhawks and upcoming games for junior B Merchants and midget 15 Flyers

Tier III provincials

The provincial playdowns kick-off Saturday for the St. Albert High Skyhawks in Grande Prairie. The Tier III north semifinal between the Skyhawks of the metro Edmonton league and Peace Wapiti Academy Titans of the Mighty Peace league starts at 1:30 p.m. The Skyhawks (5-3) and Titans (7-3) are ranked fourth and seventh, respectively, in Tier III (450 to 749 students). The winner advances to the Nov. 18 north final as the visiting team against the No. 3-ranked Holy Rosary Raiders (6-4) of Lloydminster, winners of four consecutive Wheatland league titles, or the No. 5-ranked Wetaskiwin Sabres (7-3), the Central Alberta league champions. The Skyhawks are competing in their sixth Tier III provincials in seven years and the 2016 team beat the Titans 22-7 in the semifinals and lost the north final 61-0 to the Raiders. The last game for the Skyhawks was the 16-3 loss to the Paul Kane Blues in the division two Miles conference semifinals and the Titans are coming off a 36-0 setback to the St. Joseph Celtics in the Peace Bowl.

Merchants games

The St. Albert Merchants face-off against the Beverly Warriors tonight in the Capital Junior B Hockey League. Puck drop is 8 p.m. at Clareview Arena. In the west division, Beverly (11-2) is first and the Merchants (8-6) are fourth. Friday the Merchants play the Stony Plain Flyers (7-8-1) at 8:30 p.m. at Glenn Hall Centennial Arena and Sunday’s game time against the North Edmonton Red Wings (9-3-2) is 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena. The Merchants are 3-4 at home after Friday’s 7-6 loss to the Wetaskiwin Icemen (10-3-1). The 2017 Founders Cup champions posted period leads of 3-2 and 6-5 while outshooting the Merchants 39-31. Cam Mazur’s second goal of the night was potted on the power play with 9:52 remaining to close out the scoring. Mazur and Matt Havens and Mike Bruni added two assists apiece. Havens, Peter Corrigan, Liam Thomas and Brenden Passek notched singles and Ethan Crotty (5-5, 3.77 GAA) was in net.

Flyers at home

The St. Albert Flyers host the PAC Saints tonight in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League. Game time is 7:45 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena. In the north division, the midget 15 Flyers (7-3-2) and Sherwood Park Squires (8-2) share first place and the Saints (5-3-2) are tied for sixth. The Flyers are 4-1 in their last five games after Sunday’s 3-2 decision against the Squires in Sherwood Park.