Slash wins twice
The St. Albert Slash skate into tonight’s midget AAA game undefeated after the opening weekend in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
Faceoff is 8:15 p.m. against the Edmonton Pandas (2-0) at Bill Hunter Arena.
The Slash posted victories of 4-1 against the Lloydminster Steelers (0-2) at Morinville and 3-2 in a shootout against the Rocky Mountain Raiders (0-0-2) at Go Auto Arena.
Jenna Goodwin’s second goal against the Raiders made it 2-0 on the power play in the second period.
The tying marker by the Raiders was scored with the man advantage with 6:27 remaining in the third.
Goodwin and Kelsey Hall also connected in the 2-1 shootout frame.
Shots were 33-18 for the Slash in support of netminder Mabel Maltais.
Jayde Cadieux tallied twice, Kyra McDonald and Natalie Kieser (power play) notched singles and Dayle Ross added two assists as the Slash outshot the Steelers 32-23 with Holly Borrett between the pipes.
The winners of three consecutive Esso Cup national championships have 11 returnees from last season’s 36-5-2 team that went 26-3-1 in league play.
The roster includes five U18 Team Alberta players – Kieser, Ross, Borrett, Jaden Bogden and Brooklyn Schroeder.
This weekend the Slash travels to play the Raiders at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Dewinton and the Calgary Fire (2-0) at noon Sunday at Father David Bauer Arena.
Raiders rolling
The St. Albert Nektar Raiders are off to a winning start in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
Last weekend the Raiders skated past the KC Pats 4-1 at Castledowns Arena and blanked the Southside Athletic Club 3-0 at Jarome Iginla Arena.
Andreai Proctor-Ramirez stopped 16 pucks for the shutout after facing 17 shots by KC.
Jaxon Dube potted a pair and Evan Forrest picked up three assists against KC.
Breck McKinley and Koehn Zimmer also scored as the Raiders were credited with 42 shots.
Among the 44 shots against the Southside were Noah Wilson’s two goals and another by Dube.
Mathieu Gautier and Mark Hanson-Torwalt chipped in with two assists apiece.
The Raiders have five players back from the 2019 Mac’s Cup champions and AMHL north division pennant winners and provincial finalists.
Upcoming for the Raiders are the Canadian Athletic Club (1-1) Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena and Sunday’s home game against the Airdrie Bisons (0-1) at 2:30 p.m.
Merchants stumble
The St. Albert Merchants are winless in three games as the junior B hockey team visits the Spruce Grove Regals tonight.
Puck drop is 7:45 p.m. at Grant Fuhr Arena.
The Regals are 0-5 while the Merchants are 2-4 after Sunday’s 5-3 loss to the Riggers (4-3) in Leduc.
Mitchell Reidy made his Merchants’ debut in net with a game-high 46 saves.
Kiegan Miller, Cole Gupta and Jack Langenhahn scored as the Merchants trailed 2-1 after the first period and 4-3 entering the third. The insurance marker for the Riggers in the third was also the team’s second power-play goal of the night.
The Merchants finished with 27 shots after being outshot 16-7 in the first.
The weekend started with Friday’s 5-3 loss to the North Edmonton Red Wings (4-2) at Jarome Iginla Arena.
The Merchants led 2-0 and 3-2 on goals by Gupta (power play), Zach Giacobbo and Stuart Dovey before the Red Wings found the back of the net three times in the third and the winner was scored with 8:25 to play.
Shots were 40-25 for the visitors and Josh Dechaine (2-1, 3.00 GAA) was in net.
Sunday the Merchants face off against the host Wetaskiwin Icemen (2-3) at 6 p.m.
Jets falling
The fifth loss in six games for the Morinville Jets was also the third on home ice in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
The Beaumont Chiefs (5-2) lit the lamp four times in the first period en route to the 7-1 win Sunday at Landrex Arena.
Beaumont finished with a pair on the power play.
Ryan Denton of the Jets scored in the opening minute of the second.
Shots were 18-4 in the first and 39-24 overall as Luke Hall went the distance in his fourth start in a row.
Friday’s 9-3 victory over the Spruce Grove Regals (0-5) at Grant Fuhr Arena ended a four-game winless stretch as Denton and Josh Mcrae registered one goal and four assists apiece.
Zach Mcrae and Regan Regimbald struck twice and Hayden Laporte, Dillon Watt and Josh Regan also scored.
The Jets outshot the Regals 51-30.
Friday the Jets play the Fort Saskatchewan Hawks (2-1-3) at 7:45 p.m. at JRC Arena and Sunday the Sherwood Park Knights (3-2) are the visitors at 7:30 p.m.
Sabres sharp
The fourth win in a row for the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres was against the defending Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League champions.
Jason Goudreau, Jaden Beauchamp, Kieran Strauss, Blake Brezovski (power play), Jamie Visser, Evan Zazulak and Evan Sundar scored in Sunday’s 7-1 outcome against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (2-3-1) at JRC Arena.
The Sabres (4-1) ended the game with five unanswered goals in the third period.
Shots were 53-20 for the Sabres as Luke Roberts (2-1, 2.87 GAA) tended the twine.
The night before at Go Auto Arena, the Sabres defeated the Sherwood Park Flyers 3-1 on goals by Sundar, Carmelo Crandell and Hayden Selin (power play).
The Flyers outshot the Sabres 34-31 and Adam Chin (2-0, 2.73 GAA) was between the pipes.
Crandell and Ashton Hutchinson lead the Sabres in points with eight and Crandell is the top goal scorer with five.
The next game for the first-place nitro north division team is Thursday against the Canadian Athletic Club at 8:15 p.m. at Callingwood Twin Arenas.
Flyers unbeaten
The St. Albert Flyers are unbeaten after four games in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League.
The second straight win to go with two ties was Monday’s 5-2 decision against the Canadian Athletic Club (0-3) at Callingwood Twin Arenas.
Scoring info was unavailable at press time.
Saturday the midget 15 Flyers are in the Border City to play the Lloydminster Bobcats (4-0) at 11:30 a.m.
