Esso Cup
A national championship three-peat for the St. Albert Slash starts Sunday at the 11th annual Esso Cup in Sudbury, Ont.
The opening game for the Pacific Region reps in the six-team midget AAA female hockey tournament is against the Quebec A’s.
The Slash also plays the Sudbury Wolves (Host) Monday, Saskatoon Stars (West) Tuesday, Halifax Fire (Atlantic) Wednesday and Stony Creek Sabres (Ontario) Thursday.
The top four teams in the round robin qualify for Friday’s semifinals and the medal finals are Saturday.
Visit www.hockeycanada.ca for the Esso Cup website.
The Slash are 13-1 in back-to-back Esso Cups and the lone defeat was 4-1 to Saskatoon in last year’s round robin in Bridgewater, N.S., after the 2017 record-setting 7-0 tournament in Morden, Man., as the first team to go undefeated at nationals and the first Alberta team to win the championship.
The 1-0 final against Harfangs du Triolet of Sherbrooke, Que., was decided on Tyra Meropoulis’ golden goal in overtime and last year’s 2-1 victory over Saskatoon ended a 24-game winning streak for the Stars as the Slash set another Esso Cup record as repeat winners.
The Slash are 32-3-1 overall – 26-3-1 (119 GF/26 GA) in the Alberta Female Hockey League, 4-0 (17 GF/5 GA) in the third annual Final Frozen Four provincials and 2-0 (8 GF/2 GA) in the Pacific Region series sweep of the Greater Vancouver Comets – with a roster of nine returnees from the 34-11-1 Hockey Alberta Team of the Year that includes the original five from the 38-4-1 team in 2016-17.
Metro badminton
The metro Edmonton high school badminton league serves up playoff action today in division four.
In the quarter-finals, the St. Albert Skyhawks (12-0) host the eighth-place team and the Alexandre-Tache Scorpions (5-7) visit a team to be determined Tuesday when league play ended. The Scorpions played the Edmonton Islamic Academy (1-11) and St. Andre Bessette (7-5) while the Skyhawks matched shots with the Queen Elizabeth Knights (9-3) and Vimy Ridge (6-6). Scores were unavailable at press time.
Upcoming are Tuesday’s crossover quarter-finals between the Paul Kane Blues (3-3) and the host Holy Trinity Trojans (5-0) in division two west/east and the Sturgeon Spirits (3-3) are in Stony Plain to face the Memorial Marauders (6-0) in division three north/south.
The division two and three final four playoffs are April 25.
