Merchants win
The St. Albert Merchants swept the Edmonton Mustangs for the right to play the west division leader in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.The best-of-five quarter-final against the Beverly Warriors starts Friday at Clareview Arena.
Game two is Sunday at Akinsdale Arena and game three is Wednesday at Clareview.
Faceoff times are 8 p.m.
In league play against Beverly (29-9, 4.87 GFA/2.87 GAA), the Merchants won the season opener 5-3 Sept. 21 in St. Albert before losing 8-2 Dec. 2 and 7-3 Dec. 16 at Clareview and 5-0 Jan. 11 in St. Albert.
The Merchants (14-19-5, 3.58 GFA/4.39 GAA), fourth in the west, are coming off a convincing best-of-three qualifying round series against the fifth-place Mustangs (15-21-2, 3.82 GFA/4.61 GAA).
Scores were 8-3 Friday in St. Albert and 10-4 Sunday at Bill Hunter Arena.
Peter Corrigan paced the attack with four goals and defenceman Kole Bryks produced four assists and seven points.
Josh Dechaine stopped 39 shots in game one and 46 in the series clincher.
Corrigan’s hat-trick, plus two goals and two assists by Bryce Sturm, led the way offensively in the playoff opener.
Bryks, Jack Langenhahn and Cole Gupta also scored as the Merchants were credited with 46 shots.
The Merchants sealed the deal in the first period of game two as Gupta, Langenhahn, Corrigan, Bryks (power play) and Noah Fayad found the back of the net for the 5-0 lead despite somewhat of a dubious shot count of 25-18 for the Mustangs.
Bryks and Fayad finished with a pair each and Marco Runco, captain Andy Barr and Ryan Deets also scored.
Bryks also added three helpers.
Late in the season, the Mustangs were docked points from three games due to an ineligible player.
Jets down Flyers
The Morinville Jets posted identical 7-4 victories to sweep the Stony Plain Flyers in the Capital Junior B Hockey League playoffs.The next round is the best-of-five quarter-final against the North Edmonton Red Wings.
Game one is Friday at Londonderry Arena, game two is Sunday at Ray McDonald Sports Centre and game three is Wednesday at Londonderry. Start times are 8 p.m.
In the west division, the Red Wings (26-9-3, 4.45 GFA/2.66 GAA) placed second and the Jets (20-16-2, 4.08 GFA/3.58 GAA) finished third.
Head-to-head, the Jets lost 2-1 Sept. 23 in Morinville, won 4-3 in overtime Oct. 31 at Londonderry and 5-4 in a shootout Nov. 23 in Morinville and lost 2-1 Jan. 9 at Londonderry.
In game one Saturday against the sixth-place Flyers (15-21-2, 3.11 GFA/5.05 GAA), Ryan Denton produced a pair and Connor Tuppala (power play), Lee Gadoury (shorthanded), Jaron Coles, Jacob Pink and Dylan Mcfatridge also scored in Morinville.
Tuppala and Zach Mcrae finished with two assists apiece.
Shots were 38-25 for the Jets in support of netminder Colton Kucher.
Monday the Flyers struck three times on the power play but it wasn’t enough to extend the best-of-three qualifying round.
Brett Dubuc, the CJHL’s leading scorer with 42 goals and 83 points, tallied unassisted on the penalty kill and Tyler Sonnichsen also lit the lamp to knot it at two in the opening period at Glenn Hall Centennial Arena.
It was 4-2 Flyers when the Jets closed out the middle frame with three goals and added a pair in the third.
Dubuc and Gadoury finished with a pair and two assists apiece while Mcrae and Pink potted singles.
Shots were 38-33 for the Jets and Luke Hall was between the pipes.
Raiders place first
The St. Albert Nektar Raiders skate into the playoffs as the top north division team in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.Saturday’s 4-3 decision against the host Leduc Oil Kings (8-24-2) clinched a first-round bye in the best-of-five series.
Potential opponents in the north semifinals for the Raiders (19-11-4) include the Canadian Athletic Club (15-12-7), Sherwood Park Kings (13-17-4) and Southside Athletic Club (13-19-2).
The best-of-five semifinal is expected to start next weekend.
The goal getters in Leduc were Tyson Greenway and Brad Adams on the power play, Matt Offenberger at even strength and captain Erik Boers’ game winner with 1:48 to play.
Eric Perneel and Tyson Kowaluk had two assists apiece.
Perneel finished as the team’s top scorer with 21 goals and 38 points.
Shots were 27-26 for Leduc as Evan Fradette (8-5-1, 2.35 GAA) backstopped the Raiders to their seventh win in 10 games since winning the Mac’s Cup on Jan. 1 in Calgary.
