The St. Albert Saints settled for silver at the Hockey Alberta peewee AA major provincial championship Sunday at Performance Arena.
In the final the red-hot Lloydminster Blazers beat the Saints 6-2. Stephan Cretain and Dylan Huot were credited with goals. Assists were handed out to Joshua Mahura and Brendan Kallis.
Both teams skated into the final undefeated after posting 4-0 records in their respective pools.
In the semifinals the Blazers edged the Sherwood Park Jets 4-3 and the Saints squeaked out a 2-1 decision over the St. Albert Sabres with the game winner tallied in the third period. Huot and Cretain scored for the Saints. Jake Bennett, Matteo Gennaro and Mahura collected assists. Replying for the Sabres was Dylan Overdyk, with Myrko Vachon drawing the assist.
In the Jarome Iginla pool the Saints beat Sherwood Park 5-3, Red Deer TBS 4-2, Okotoks Oilers 5-3 and the Calgary Chiefs 4-0.
The Sabres finished second behind the Blazers in the Mark Messier pool with wins of 11-2 against the Edmonton NWZ Raiders and 7-0 against the Bow Valley Timberwolves and losses of 6-5 to the Blazers and 4-3 to the Grande Prairie Titans.
The Saints were led offensively by Gennaro’s seven goals and four assists. Cretain and Mahura finished with five points apiece. Patrick Dea logged the most minutes in net.
The top point producer for the Sabres was Mark Matsuba with two goals and seven assists. Thomas Friesen and Ethan Lazaro had eight points apiece.
In the eight-team draw, the Saints represented zone 3 and the Sabres were the host team.
The St. Albert Capitals added another accomplishment to their long list of achievements by winning the tier 1-BB provincial championship last weekend.
They were also silver medallists during the Edmonton Minor Hockey Week and the EMHA city championship in the Butler Division and were victorious at the Bonnyville bantam tournament.
The bantam Capitals are Colter McCoy, Ryan Beztilny, Kevin Milne, Ryan Thachuk, Mathieu Brisson, Drew Bragg, Tyler Barry, Keaton Lockwood, Eamon Moloy, Josh Rychlo, Matt Pearce, Aiden Zalasky, Loewan Lafleur, Garrett Scott, Matteo Tintinaglia and goalies Logan Gray and Josh Garwick. Affiliates were Travis Matthews, Eric Wells and Zach Dechaine. Head coach was Randy Pearce. Assistants were Mark Brisson, Mark Lockwood and Kelly Scott. Trainer was Dr. Darcy Zalasky. Team managers were Bob and Elaine Bragg.
In the best-of-three provincial final against Calgary Crowfoot, scores were 2-0 Capitals in game one, 7-0 Calgary in game two and 3-1 Capitals in the deciding match.
In game three, a one-timer by Lafleur opened the scoring on assists by Scott and Bragg.
Lafleur’s second goal of the game was scored on a breakaway pass by Moloy, who found the Capitals’ sniper streaking between two defencemen. Lafleur went top shelf on the glove side.
Barry supplied the insurance marker by using a defenceman as a screen on a two-on-two rush. From the top of the face-off circle he snapped a hard shot over the goalie’s glove hand.
In net for the Capitals was Gray, who made a stellar save in period two and the score knotted at one. A pass came across the crease to an unchecked Calgary player and Gray kicked away a sure goal with a toe save.
Key to the victory was solid physical play against a strong skating team. The bigger Capitals used their size advantage in slowing the opposition down.
Bob Russell, a longtime supporter and pioneer of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, will be saluted prior to Friday’s 7 p.m. playoff tilt between the Spruce Grove Saints and Fort McMurray Oil Barons at Grant Fuhr Arena.
The St. Albert resident will drop the puck to start the AJHL final, following a special ceremony in honour of his successful initiatives and contributions over the last three decades. He also had strong ties with the Saints in the early years when they were based in St. Albert.
Russell created what would later become the Friends of Alberta Junior Hockey Society in 1980 while serving as the AJHL’s vice-president. In 1983, an agreement was reached with Alberta Advanced Education to work with the Heritage Scholarship Program on a joint venture to develop a scholarship program. The first AJHL scholarships were awarded in 1984.
In 1985, the society was formed and registered with Russell as the charter president. The first event to raise funds was a raffle, which generated $4,200.
The first scholarships awarded were $500 per player and since then the program has provided $500,000 in scholarships. In January, 24 scholarships totalling more than $35,000 and ranging in value from $1,500 to $2,000 apiece, were handed out at the annual AJHL scholarship banquet. In recent years, scholarships have expanded to include AJHL alumni, athletic trainers and on-ice officials in addition to current players.
Russell stepped down as president of the society in June of 2008 and has remained on the board as an active member.
