Fire burns Slash
The third loss of the season for the St. Albert Slash stopped a 12-game winning streak on home ice for the reigning Esso Cup national champions.The Calgary Fire (18-8-3) joined the Lloydminster Steelers (19-7-1) as the only Alberta Female Hockey League midget AAA teams to beat the Slash (25-3-1) in regulation time in Saturday’s 4-1 decision at Go Auto Arena.
It was 2-0 for the Fire when Alexis Butz scored with 4:23 left in the second period.
The Fire’s fourth goal was an empty netter.
Shots were 24-19 for the Slash as Holly Borrett (13-1, 0.86 GAA, six shutouts) suffered her first loss.
The Slash were also missing four players because of the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer: forwards Jaden Bogden, Isabelle Lajoie and Brooklyn Schroeder with Team Alberta and defenceman Kiah Vail with Team Northwest Territories in the U18 female tournament.
The Fire also ended the Slash run of 12 league wins in a row in the 3-2 decision Jan. 27 in Calgary.
The first loss of the season for the Slash was 2-0 against the Steelers in the Oct. 13 home opener.
The sixth-straight win for the Slash after the setback to the Fire in Calgary was 4-0 against the visiting Steelers as Brianna Sank (12-2, 0.87 GAA) recorded her league-high eighth shutout by stopping 23 shots in the penalty-filled affair Friday.
Goal scorers were Kamea Brezovski in the first, Bronwyn Boucher (power play) in the second and Makenna Schuttler (power play) and captain Madison Willan in the third as the Slash were credited with 29 shots.
Jenna Goodwin chipped in with three assists and Willan had a pair of helpers in the team’s 18th victory in 19 games.
Willan is the AFHL leader in goals (24), assists (26), points (50) and power-play goals (seven).
The last game for the Slash before hosting the AFHL provincial Final Frozen Four, March 22 to 24 at Go Auto Arena, is 8:15 p.m. Sunday against the Red Deer Chiefs (9-17-3) in St. Albert.
The provincial champion will host the Pacific Region national qualifier in early April.
The Slash are back-to-back national champions and the 11th annual Esso Cup is April 21 to 27 at Sudbury, Ont.
Merchants playoffs
The St. Albert Merchants are between a rock and a hard spot against the west division leader in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.The Merchants are on the brink of elimination against the Beverly Warriors after losses of 8-3 and 4-2 in the best-of-five quarter-final series.
Game three is 8 p.m. tonight at Clareview Arena.
If needed, game four is Friday at Akinsdale Arena and game five is Sunday at Clareview. Start times are 8 p.m.
The Merchants (14-19-5) have now lost five in a row to Beverly (29-9), including three straight by combined score of 20-5 before the playoffs after the season-opener 5-3 win Sept. 21 in St. Albert.
Game one Friday featured period leads of 2-0 and 7-2 as Beverly out-shot the Merchants 32-27 at Clareview.
Six of the eight goals by Beverly were at even strength and the team’s seventh goal was scored shorthanded to make it 7-1 halfway through the middle frame.
Peter Corrigan (shorthanded), Ryan Cooper and Sam Milner replied for the Merchants.
Josh Dechaine (six GA on 19 shots in 27 minutes) and Brandon Boughen (two GA on 13 shots in 33 minutes) split time in net.
Game two Sunday was decided in the third period with two unanswered goals by Beverly.
Bryce Sturm tied it at one in the first and evened the score at two in the middle frame.
Matt Holzer assisted on both goals.
Shots were 13-6 in the third and 50-40 overall for Beverly as Dechaine went the distance.
Jets playoffs
Sunday’s overtime loss put the Morinville Jets behind the eight-ball in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.The Jets are down two games in the best-of-five quarter-final series after the North Edmonton Red Wings forced overtime with 4:44 left in regulation time and potted the 6-5 winner four minutes into the extra frame at Ray McDonald Sports Centre.
The second goal and third point of the night by Brett Dubuc, this year’s recipient of the CJHL’s most valuable player award after racking up a league-high 42 goals and 83 points in 37 games, tied it at five at 8:24 of the third period.
An unassisted shorthanded effort by Josh Mcrae made it 4-2 Jets at 8:30 of the second.
Lee Gadoury also potted a pair and Mcrae added two assists.
Shots were even at 45 apiece as Luke Hall (1-1, 4.84 GAA) went the distance for the Jets.
Colton Kucher (1-1, 3.50 GAA) tended the twine in Friday’s series-opening loss at Londonderry Arena.
The Jets led 2-1 after the first on goals by Cole Ridd and Dubuc.
The Red Wings struck twice in the power play while out-shooting the Jets 14-5 during a scoreless third and 43-22 overall.
Game three goes tonight at 8 p.m. at Londonderry.
If needed, game four is Friday in Morinville and game five is Sunday at Londonderry. Faceoff times are 8 p.m.
In the west division, the Red Wings (26-9-3) placed second and the Jets (20-16-2) were third and in the season series the team split four games that were decided by one goal, including one in overtime and another in a shootout.
Flyers falling
The third loss in a row dropped the St. Albert Flyers into a three-way tie for third place in the north division of the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.The Flyers skated into the weekend ranked second in the north, two points up on Leduc, three ahead of the Sherwood Park Squires and four in front of the Lloydminster Bobcats.
However, losses of 4-2 against the Bobcats on Saturday in St. Albert and 6-5 in Leduc on Sunday left the Flyers, Bobcats and Oil Kings deadlocked in the standings with the Flyers having played one less game.
The setback against the Oil Kings was the fourth in six games this month after going 3-2 in January.
League play wraps up this weekend as the Flyers visit the second-place Sherwood Park Squires (19-8-6) Saturday at 12:45 p.m. before the last home game of the season Sunday against the Maple Leafs (8-21-2) at 5 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
Upcoming for the Flyers is the north division playoff tournament, March 7 to 10 at Lloydminster. 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.
Ethan Sundar continues to lead the AMMHL in scoring with 30 goals and 62 points after notching a goal in both losses, including his 11th power-play marker.
Graeme Hampton also tallied against the Bobcats as Carson Ironside (10-4-2, 2.55 GAA) stopped a game-high 24 shots.
The Flyers and Oil Kings, who made it 3-2 early in the second period on the penalty kill, were deadlocked at four apiece after 40 minutes and the game winner was scored with 3:57 to play.
The Oil Kings added an empty netter before Payton McDonald-Corea struck on the power play with 22 seconds remaining.
Chase Visser tallied twice and Palmer Strang also scored.
Shots were 39-36 for the Flyers and Ethan Kadatz (10-5-1, 2.92 GAA) was in net.
The Oil Kings also defeated the Flyers 5-2 Feb. 10 in St. Albert.
Bantam AA playoffs
The opening playoff tournament for two of St. Albert’s three teams in the blue division of the Metro conference starts tonight in the Edmonton Rural Bantam AA Hockey League.Puck drop is 6:30 p.m. between the Elite Pro Marketing Blues and Comets at Akinsdale Arena.
The other St. Albert match-ups in pool play are the Comets versus the Bears at 8:45 p.m. Friday at Mark Messier Arena and the Bears versus the Blues at 4:15 p.m. Saturday at Akinsdale Arena.
In the blue division, the Blues (19-10-3) and Bears (17-11-4) finished second and third, respectively, behind the Sherwood Park Leafs (21-6-5) and the Comets (7-17-8) placed seventh out of eight teams.
