The round robin draw for the 16th annual Lions Western Canadian Challenge (WCC) high school volleyball tournament swings into action Thursday at 1 p.m. in St. Albert and Morinville.
Twenty-four men’s and 24 women’s teams are entered. Visit www.mchs.gsacrd.ab.ca/wcc/ for the list of teams and schedules.
The top three teams in each pool qualify for the medal round and the next three teams play for consolation honours.
Saturday’s playoffs start at 8 a.m. In the medal round, St. Albert Catholic High School hosts the women’s semifinals at 5:30 p.m., the third-place match at 7 p.m. and the final at 8 p.m. Morinville Community High School is the venue for the men’s semifinals at 5:30 p.m., the third-place match at 7 p.m. and the final at 8 p.m. The consolation finals are 7 p.m. at Paul Kane High School for women and Bellerose Composite High School for men.
The St. Albert Merchants host the Spruce Grove Regals (6-2-0-1) Sunday at Akinsdale Arena. Game time is 8 p.m.
Last weekend the Merchants snapped a five-game losing streak by defeating the North Edmonton Red Wings 5-2 and the Wetaskiwin Icemen 4-2.
Akeem Samuel, Dustin Robinson, Chris Clark, Zack Caines and Ryan Harrison scored against the Red Wings (4-4-0-1) in St. Albert. Clark added three assists. In net was Curtis Ronaldson.
Against the Icemen (6-4) the Merchants improved to 4-6 with their first road win of the season.
The latest team stats listed Clark as the top scorer with 10 points, on two goals and eight assists in nine games. Jake Behiels had nine goals in eight games. Nicolas Addessi was third in scoring with seven points. Brady Reid led the Merchants in penalty minutes with 24.
Sunday’s divisional match-up between the St. Albert Sabres and SSAC Southgate Lions in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League starts at 7:15 p.m. at Millwoods Arena.
In the Nitro north standings the Sabres (3-3-2) and Lions (3-1-2) share second place.
The Sabres are coming off a 7-4 loss to the KC Squires (2-2-1) at Castledowns Arena and a 4-2 win in Lloydminster against the Heat (3-3-1) last weekend.
Brett Smythe, Taylor Lotoski, Matteo Gennaro and Brett Van Os scored against KC. After 40 minutes it was 4-4. Shots were 47-28 for St. Albert. Patrick Dea and Patrick Gora split time in net.
Andrew Kary, Guy Butlin, Michael Buchamer and Smythe potted goals in the Border City. It was tied 1-1 after two periods. Gora (2-2-1, 2.71 GAA) stopped 29 shots.
The top-scoring Sabre after eight games is Smythe with five goals and five assists.
