Midget AA Steel
Wednesday’s midget AA game between the St. Albert Steel and Sturgeon Sting in the Northern Alberta Hockey League featured a special tribute honouring Jenna Marko.
On Nov. 22, the seven-year-old niece of Steel assistant coach Cary Marko lost her fight against adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare cancer in adults and even rarer in children.
As a team the Steel showed their support for the Marko family with a donation to Jenna’s GoFundMe. Her wish was to raise money to buy toys for sick children at Stollery Children’s Hospital and $2,180 was contributed to the GoFundMe page through parent donations.
In a show of support, the Steel had pink tape on their sticks and special pink socks flown in to wear. The Sturgeon players also had their sticks taped in pink.
The score at Troy Murray Arena was 5-3 for the Steel (9-3-1) to close out their November schedule with a 3-3-1 record.
Nico Gallo, Joshua Cyr, Jayden Ryan tallied and the second goal of the night by Jayden Antunes was a shorthand effort into an empty net.
Brett Reiter and Aidyn Hutchinson chipped in two assists apiece.
Ethan Kadatz (4-2-1, 2.41 GAA) was tested 31 times by Sturgeon (7-7-1) and the Steel generated 36 shots.
The Steel are led offensively this season by Sean Mitchell’s 16 points and Antunes’ eight goals.
Sunday the Steel faceoff against the host Camrose Vikings (5-5-3) at 3:45 p.m.
Midget AA Crusaders
The defending Playoff Cup champion St. Albert Source for Sports Crusaders had three wins without a loss in November before Friday’s midget AA contest in the Northern Alberta Hockey League.
The score against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (3-10) was unavailable at press time.
The Crusaders (10-0-1) skated into the weekend as the Besa division leaders while tied with the Beaumont Braves (10-1-1) of the CanAccom division and NEBC Yukon Trackers (10-1-1) of the Milltech division for second overall in points behind the Anderson division Maple Leafs (11-0-1) in the 23-team NAHL.
The Crusaders are coming off last Saturday’s 6-2 result against the Lakeland Panthers (5-8-1) in Cold Lake.
Shea Spofford’s hat-trick included a power-play marker.
The first of two goals by Carter MacDonald was also scored with the man advantage to make it 3-0 early in the second period.
Carter Stock also struck on the power play to extend the lead to 6-1 halfway through the third.
Brandon Gallo collected three assists while Stock and Zachry Desranleau had two helpers apiece.
Shots were 38-24 for the Crusaders in support of netminder Jack Robinson (5-0-1, 1.83 GAA).
Prior to Friday's match, Brady Harroun was the top scorer on the Crusaders with 13 goals and 21 points, followed by Kaelan Shelton’s nine goals and 16 points and Spofford’s eight goals and 15 points.
The next home game is Wednesday versus the Strathcona Warriors (6-5-2) at 8:45 p.m. at Troy Murray Arena.
Sabres still winning
The eighth game without a loss for the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres was recorded Wednesday in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League.
The first-place Sabres (13-3-1) are 7-0-1 during the undefeated streak after the 5-4 road win against the Sherwood Park Flyers (6-7-3).
Carmelo Crandall’s second goal of the game and 19th of the season snapped a 4-4 tie toward the end of the third period.
Jacob Goudreau, Kieran Strauss and Ben Constantino also scored.
Shots were 27-21 for the Sabres with Adam Chin (6-1-1) between the pipes.
The outcome left the Sabres with a 6-0-1 record in November after going 5-2 in October.
The Sabres are in action against the Maple Leafs (1-12-1) Sunday at 8 p.m. at Millwoods Arena and 8:15 p.m. Friday at Callingwood Twin Arenas.
Sharks at home
The midget elite St. Albert Sharks are back on the ice tonight in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
Game time is 7:45 p.m. against the Leduc-based North Central Impact (1-5-3) at Go Auto Arena.
Last weekend the Sharks (6-2-1) posted wins of 3-2 in a shootout against the host Red Deer Chiefs (4-1-1) and in regulation time against the Sherwood Park Fury (1-7-1) in St. Albert.
Mikayla Sarapuk scored the lone shootout goal and Layla Hood stopped all three attempts by the Chiefs.
Ella Soltis opened the scoring in the second and Sarapuk put the Sharks on top 2-1 in the third.
The Chiefs tied it at two on the power play at 9:22 of the third.
Hood (4-1, 1.97 GAA) faced 27 shots before the shootout session while the Sharks generated 35 shots overall in regulation time and five-minute overtime period.
Elle Harapchuk, Sierra Whillans and Kaitlyn Black netted goals before the Fury struck on the power play halfway through the third.
Shots were 22-17 for the Fury as Natalie Balog (2-1, 1.49 GAA) backstopped the Sharks to their second victory after losing 2-0 to Calgary Fire Red (6-2) Nov. 17 in St. Albert. It was the first AFHL match between the teams since Calgary defeated the Sharks 5-1 in the 2019 provincial final at Grande Prairie
REM 15AA Royals
The St. Albert Royals have back-to-back games scheduled this weekend in the Rural & Edmonton Midget 15AA Hockey League.
Today’s faceoff is 1:45 p.m. against the Camrose Vikings (2-9-1) at Jarome Iginla Arena and Sunday the Royals travel to Red Deer to play the Chiefs (11-2-2) at 3:30 p.m.
The Royals (5-6-2) are 3-1-1 in five games after Monday’s 5-2 win against SSAC Dolce Vita Homes (6-6) at Kenilworth Arena.
Sebastian Laurent’s two goals included a power-play tally to make it 4-0 at 7:41 of the second period.
Kaiden Jean, Matthew Fischer and Kayden Jethon also scored and Aidan Malinowski added two assists.
Malinowski leads the Royals in points with 14 and Tye Cameron has scored a team-high eight goals
Josh McCormack (3-2-2, 3.43 GAA) was in net as SSAC outshot the Royals 15-7 in the third while potting a pair with the man advantage for an overall shot count of 35-30.
