St. Albert Steel captain Mike Giese will make team history tonight against the Canmore Eagles.
Giese will play in his 180th career game for the Steel in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, surpassing the record of 179 games by Bryce Williamson.
The puck drops at 7 p.m. at Performance Arena.
Last night Giese was expected to be in the line-up against the Bonnyville Pontiacs in St. Albert, but the score was unavailable at press time.
The 178th game for the 20-year-old centre was Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to the Lloydminster Bobcats in the Border City. The 2009/10 recipient of the Steel’s unsung hero award was held pointless. The career totals for the midget AAA product of the KC Pats were 20 goals, 28 assists and 316 penalty minutes.
The loss ended a season-high four-game winning streak for the Steel (14-9). In the penalty-filled affair, rookie Jeremy Olinyk (seventh) opened the scoring 26 seconds into the match. The Bobcats replied with three straight goals, including a pair on the power play 67 seconds apart. In the third frame, the Steel pulled even on goals by Spencer Pommells (ninth) and Taylor Fraser’s team-leading 14th. The Bobcats potted the game winner with 1:16 remaining and added an empty net tally with 51 seconds to play.
Steel newcomer Brandon Fagerheim collected three assists for 10 points in six games. In the last five games he amassed two goals and eight assists.
Shots were 34-20 for Lloydminster as the Steel were outshot for the seventh game in a row. In net was Rhys Hadfield (14-8, 3.39 GAA).
The loss dropped the Steel four points back of the fifth-place Bobcats (16-12) with five games in hand.
Two former midget AAA St. Albert Raiders made the NHL Central Scouting preliminary rankings for Western Hockey League players eligible for the 2011 entry draft.
Left-winger Travis Ewanyk of the Edmonton Oil Kings was listed 19th among skaters and Liam Liston of the Brandon Wheat Kings was the No. 1 goalie. They were teammates with Team Pacific at the last year’s World U17 Hockey Challenge.
The scrappy six-foot-one, 178-pound Ewanyk, a second-year Oil King, has five goals, three assists and 52 penalty minutes in 21 games this season. His career totals are 6-7-13 and 97 PIM in 65 games.
Liston is 9-6-1 with a 2.87 GAA, one shutout and .908 save percentage in 17 games in his first WHL season. He was named the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League’s top goalie in 2009/10.
“Liam has excellent net coverage and good overall quickness,” Central Scouting’s Al Jensen told NHL.com. “He’s strong in his crease and possesses strong legs for lateral pushes. He has a very good butterfly style and continues to get better.”
