Silver for Saints
The St. Albert Saints lost only one game at the 60th annual Quebec International Peewee Hockey Tournament as silver medallists.
The Saints dropped a 4-0 decision to the Pointe-Levy Commandeurs in the peewee AA division final Sunday at Videotron Center in Quebec City.
The Saints are Ethan Makokis, Trennen Redlick, Landyn Shuya, Rylan Hamstra, Kameron Lawrence, Haden Tellier, Ty Gordon, Teo Pisani, Rune Carlson, Jake Giacobbo, Connor Schmidt, Turner McIntyre, Evan Leung, Alexander Haight, Tristan Hwang, Matteo Medoro and Luca Giordano.
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the team’s medal picture.
The Saints finished 5-1 with victories of 2-0 against Atlanta Fire, 3-2 overtime shootout against Colorado Avalanche, 2-1 against Lachenaie Chevaliers, 3-2 against North Shore Shamrocks in OT on a penalty shot after tying the game with less than 30 seconds to play on the power play with the goalie pulled as Pisani potted both goals and the 3-2 semifinal against the Vegas Golden Knights with Giacobbo sniping the OT winner.
Six Saints scored goals in the tournament as Pisani and Schmidt led the way with three apiece for five points each.
The Saints also played three exhibitions: 5-3 win against St. Gabriel, a school team in Montreal, 6-6 draw against an all-star team from Ukraine as the Saints battled back from a 4-0 deficit after two periods and 2-1 win against Connecticut Rangers.
The Saints are 18-6-2 in league play entering the Hockey Edmonton playoffs.
Tonight at 6 p.m. the Saints play the Sherwood Park Jets at Stu Barnes Arena and Sunday’s game against the Beaumont Braves is 2:30 p.m. at Millennium Place.
Sabres playoffs
The St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres skated into Friday’s playoff against the KC Squires with the series-opening win on Marko Stolic’s overtime goal Wednesday.
Stolic scored 66 seconds into the extra frame after Andon Coles tied it on the power play with 51 seconds remaining in regulation time.
Michael Romeo and Carmelo Crandell assisted on the OT winner as the 3-2 decision at Millwoods Arena put the Sabres in position to sweep the best-of-three nitro north division semifinal in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
Friday’s result from Troy Murray Arena was unavailable at press time.
If needed, game three is 5:45 p.m. today at Castledowns Arena.
The series winner plays the Sherwood Park Flyers (17-15-1) or SSAC Southgate Lions (12-14-7) in the best-of-three division final.
The Sabres (13-15-5) and SSAC finished tied for third and KC (20-9-4) placed first in the nitro standings.
In game one, Teagan Kendrick stopped 42 shots while the Sabres were credited with 35 shots.
Zakk Makeiff also scored and Liam Cochrane added two assists as the Sabres dressed three affiliates with four regulars not in the lineup.
Makeiff and captain Levi Fesyk are returning players from the 2018 AMBHL provincial finalists, 9-4 in the playoffs after going 25-3-8 as the second-best team in the regular season.
Merchants playoffs
The season is over for the St. Albert Merchants after Wednesday’s overtime loss in the quarter-final playoffs in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Nicholas Claxton potted the 5-4 series clincher 79 seconds into sudden death as the Beverly Warriors swept the best-of-five series.
Ryan Cooper’s second of the night with 2:51 to play forced the extra period at Clareview Arena.
Bryce Sturm tied the game at two with 3:29 left in the opening period and it was 4-2 Beverly when Adrian Parth scored with 7:42 to go in the middle frame.
Captain Andy Barr added two assists.
Shots were 4-3 in OT and 33-32 overall for the Merchants with Josh Dechaine (2-3, 4.91 GAA) between the pipes.
Losses of 8-3 at Clareview and 4-2 at Akinsdale Arena put the Merchants on the verge of elimination against the 2018 playoff finalist and provincial bronze medallist.
Beverly also swept the Merchants in last year’s quarter-finals.
The Merchants (14-19-5) are now winless in six straight against Beverly (29-9), the top west division team, after the season-opener 5-3 win Sept. 21 in St. Albert.
The fourth-place Merchants advanced into the quarter-finals with wins of 8-3 and 10-4 against the fifth-place Edmonton Mustangs (15-21-2) in the best-of-three opening round.
Peter Corrigan and Bryce Sturm led the Merchants in playoff scoring with five goals and nine assists apiece and Kole Bryks recorded three goals and seven points.
Savoie top rookie
Carter Savoie of St. Albert is the recipient of the Dick White Trophy as the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s rookie of the year.
Savoie entered the AJHL as a 16-year-old and is the top-scoring Crusader with 72 points in 56 games for fifth overall in the league.
The left-winger is committed to the University of Denver Pioneers for the 2021-22 season.
The former bantam AAA St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabre and Northern Alberta Xtreme Elite 15s player was one of only four 2002-born players invited to the Team Canada West selection camp for the 2018 World Junior A Challenge.
Savoie, 17, leads all AJHL rookies with 30 goals and 42 assists while averaging 1.3 points per game.
Savoie also recorded 19 multi-point games and notched seven game winners.
Local players with the Crusaders (42-14-3), first in the north division, include Garrett Clegg, Michael Benning, Tanner Fincaryk, Cameron Aucoin and Jayden Platz.
Flyers play twice
The St. Albert Flyers are winless in three games going into the last weekend of the regular season in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.
The midget 15 Flyers are in Sherwood Park today to play the Squires (19-8-6) at 12:45 p.m. and the last home game of the season is 5 p.m. Sunday against the Maple Leafs (8-22-2) at Akinsdale Arena.
The third-place Flyers (20-9-3), Lloydminster Bobcats (20-10-3) and Leduc Oil Kings (20-10-3) are one point back of the second-place Squires in the north division.
The Flyers are coming off a 2-4 showing in February after going 3-2 in January.
On tap Thursday is the north division playoff tournament at Lloydminster with the top eight teams split into two pools. The two finalists and the Edmonton host team advance to the six-team midget 15 provincials, March 20 to 24 at Meadows Community Recreation Centre.
