Merchants results
The St. Albert Merchants continue their homestand Friday in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Game time is 8 p.m. against the Edmonton Royals (27-4-2).
The first of four games at Jarome Iginla Arena was Sunday’s 8-3 thumping of the Stony Plain Flyers.
The result put the Merchants (19-14) five points ahead of the Flyers (16-16-1) for third place in the west division.
The Merchants have five games left in the regular season and if the playoffs were to start today the team’s best-of-three qualifying round opponent would be the Spruce Grove Regals (4-25-3).
Bryce Sturm, Zach Giacobbo, Cole Gupta, Sam Milner, Ryan Cooper and Josh Antunes piled up the goals before the Flyers scored with 1:34 left in the second period.
Shots were 20-12 in the first as the Merchants led 4-0.
Stuart Dovey also tallied once and Giacobbo finished with a pair.
Dovey, Sturm, Landon Bishop and Peter Corrigan added two assists apiece.
The final shot count was 53-34 as Mitchell Reidy (9-8, 3.89 GAA) backstopped the Merchants to their third win in four games.
The Merchants were coming off Friday’s 7-1 road loss against the Beaumont Chiefs (27-5-1).
Sturm opened the scoring in the last minute of the first and Beaumont replied with four in the second and the rout was on.
Reidy (four GA on 34 shots in 38 minutes) and Cole Crozier, an affiliate with the midget AA St. Albert Source for Sports Crusaders, faced a combined total of 48 shots while the Merchants were credited with 25.
Crozier is the seventh player to tend the twine for the Merchants and the list of puck stoppers includes forward Ryan Deets (one GA on seven shots in 11 minutes in two relief appearances) as the team’s emergency netminder.
Meanwhile, Cooper slotted sixth among the CJHL’s top-10 scorers with 52 points and Sturm is in a three-way tie for seventh with 51 points.
Sturm also leads the Merchants in goals with 24 in 33 games and Cooper has 23 in 28 games.
One-game suspensions were also issued last weekend to Jacob Karran (cross-checking major Friday) and Noah Fayad (fighting major Sunday) for game misconducts in the last 10 minutes of regulation time.
Jets scoreless
The Morinville Jets skate into tonight’s game against the Edmonton Mustangs after consecutive shutout losses in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Faceoff is 8 p.m. at Bill Hunter Arena
The last goal by the Jets was scored by Dillon Watt with 3:03 left in the 10-5 win against the Fort Saskatchewan Hawks (15-11-7) Jan. 12 at Landrex Arena.
The Mustangs (2-30) are averaging 7.31 goals-against per game.
The Jets (11-20-1) are coming off their worst loss of the season, 12-0 against the Edmonton Royals (27-4-2) Sunday in Morinville.
The Jets also have games on tap Friday against the host Leduc Riggers (18-14-1) at 8 p.m. and Sunday against the Spruce Grove Regals (4-25-3) at 7:30 p.m. at Morinville.
The Jets will be without the services of Zach Mcrae for the next three games because of a gross misconduct against the Royals.
Mcrae is second on the Jets in points with 30 and third in goals with 14 in 29 games.
Mcrae is eligible to return for the Jan. 31 rivalry game against the St. Albert Merchants (19-14) at 8 p.m. at Jarome Iginla Arena.
Slash games
The push toward the Final Froze Four provincials starts this weekend for the midget AAA St. Albert Slash with 10 games left in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
Saturday the Slash (18-1-1) host the Red Deer Chiefs at 2:15 p.m. at Go Auto Arena and Sunday’s game against Calgary Fire (10-99-1) starts at 4 p.m. at Father David Bauer Arena.
After the exam break, the Esso Cup national champions for three consecutive years lead the AFHL in shutouts with nine with Mabel Maltais (11-0, 0.90 GAA) posting five and Holly Borrett (7-1, 0.80 GAA) has four.
Raiders action
The exam break ends this weekend for the No. 1 team in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
The St. Albert Nektar Raiders (21-1-3) are headed south to play the Lethbridge Hurricanes (14-8-5) at 3 p.m. Saturday and the Calgary Royals (9-13-4) at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Stu Peppard Arena.
The Raiders are 13-0-1 since the 3-2 loss to the Sherwood Park Kings (8-13-5) Nov. 6 in St. Albert.
With seven games left before the playoffs, the Raiders are first in goals against with 34 with Andreai Proctor-Ramirez (12-1-2) registering a league-high four shutouts and Carson Ironside (9-0-1) has two shutouts.
Last year’s AMHL provincial finalists also have first place locked up in the north division for an opening-round playoff bye.
Sharks weekend
The midget elite St. Albert Sharks are back in action after the exam break with a pair of games against the Lloydminster Steelers in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
Start times are 8 p.m. Saturday at Jarome Iginla Arena and 1 p.m. Sunday in Bon Accord.
The Sharks (11-3-1) are ranked first in the north standings with a game in hand on the second-place Steelers (9-5-2) and third-place Edmonton Pandas (9-5-2).
The Sharks are winners of three in a row and seven in eight games.
The team is led offensively by Regan Ackroyd’s 13 points and Sierra Whillans’ eight goals.
