The last home game for the St. Albert Merchants before the playoffs is Sunday versus the Wetaskiwin Icemen (15-17-0-4). The puck drops at 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Money Men close out the regular season Wednesday against the west division-leading Beverly Warriors (25-5-0-5). Faceoff is 8 p.m. at Clareview Arena.
The Merchants (17-17-0-1) stood sixth overall the west, prior to Friday’s game in Leduc against the Riggers (16-17-0-3), the host team for the provincial junior B championship. The score was unavailable at press time.
Not dressed Friday were Dustin Robinson and Ryan Creelman. They were suspended one game for their actions in Sunday’s 7-3 loss to the Jets in Morinville. Creelman received a game misconduct for verbal abuse and Robinson was tagged with a game misconduct in the last 10 minutes of regulation time.
The teams combined for 301 penalty minutes on 72 infractions. The Merchants were penalized 34 times for 135 minutes.
The loss was the fourth in a row, and the sixth in nine games for the Merchants as the third-place Jets (17-14-0-5) swept the four-game season series.
In team scoring Chris Clark and Jake Behiels share top spot with 38 points. Behiels is the leading goal scorer with 27 in 35 games. Clarke also has a team-high 30 assists and 192 penalty minutes in 34 games.
The top two teams in metro Edmonton premier men’s basketball clash Monday in Namao.
Tipoff is 4:45 p.m. between the Paul Kane Blues (6-1 in pool A; 13-7 overall) and the Sturgeon Spirits (5-1 in pool B) at Sturgeon Composite High School.
Both teams are unranked in 4A in the second provincial rankings. In the first rankings, Paul Kane was eighth and Sturgeon was an honourable mention.
In the semifinal of the 21st annual Optimist Showdown in St. Albert tournament last Saturday, the Blues rebounded from a 13-point deficit after three quarters to beat the Spirits 75-72. After regulation time the score was 67 apiece.
The St. Albert Flyers entertain the Camrose Kodiaks today in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League. Faceoff is 1:15 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
Friday night the Flyers played the SSAC Bulldogs in Edmonton but the score was unavailable at press time.
In the north conference, the Flyers (21-6) were one point back of the second-place Bulldogs (21-7-1) with two games in hand. Camrose (8-17-2) was ranked ninth out of 12 teams.
