Slash fired up
The St. Albert Slash swept last weekend’s homestand against the Calgary Fire in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
Scores were 2-1 and 4-1 at Go Auto Arena.
Kelsey Hall and Dayle Ross scored in the first game for the Slash (21-2-1) since losing 2-1 to the Fire (12-11-1) Jan. 26 in Calgary.
Shots were 40-17 for the Slash as the Fire ended Holly Borrett’s shutout bid with 2:58 remaining in regulation time.
Ross, Jaden Bogden, Bronwyn Boucher and Jayde Cadieux lit the lamp in the second game before the Fire replied with 6:54 to play.
Faith Greenough, Natalie Kieser and Jenna Goodwin collected two assists apiece.
The Slash outshot the visitors 31-19 as Borrett (10-1-1, 0.99 GAA) backstopped the team to its sixth win in seven games after the Christmas break.
The Esso Cup midget AAA national champions the last three years have six games left before the Final Frozen Four provincials, March 20 to 22 in Calgary, to represent Alberta in the Pacific Region national qualifier against the B.C. champion.
Satuday the Sash visit the Red Deer Chiefs (3-19-2) at 3:30 p.m. and Sunday’s contest against the Lloydminster Steelers (9-11-3) starts at 3:45 p.m. at Jarome Iginla Arena.
Raiders top team
The last game for the St. Albert Nektar Raiders before the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs is Saturday in Fort Saskatchewan.
Faceoff is 2:30 p.m. against the Rangers (15-12-4) at JRC Arena.
The Raiders (26-1-4) skate into the playoffs as the No. 1 team in league play as the north division pennant winners two years in a row for a first-round bye and berth in the best-of-five north semifinal.
The Raiders are also first in goals-against average at 1.41 and second in goals scored with 4.06 per game.
The Calgary Buffaloes (21-4-5, 130 GF/55 GA) are the top south division team.
In last year’s AMHL provincial final, the Buffaloes swept the Raiders in three games and the first two were decided in overtime, including a penalty shot for the winner in the series opener.
The Raiders have five returnees on the roster from the 6-5 playoff team that was 1-4 in OT games after going 19-11-4 in the regular season.
The Raiders are 18-0-2 since the 2-1 loss to the Sherwood Park Kings (9-14-6) Nov. 6 after Saturday’s 9-2 romp against the Red Deer Chiefs (17-11-3) at Jarome Iginla Arena.
Ronin Pusch punished the Chiefs with four goals, three at even strength and one on the power play, for a team-high 16 in 31 games.
Kyle Norman, Ty Cheveldayoff, Noah Wilson, Koehn Ziemmer (power play) and David Saunders also scored as the Raiders improved to 13-1-2 in St. Albert.
Norman, Tye Pedersen, Evan Forrest and captain Mathieu Gautier collected two assists apiece.
The Raiders were actually outshot 33-30 and Carson Ironside (12-0-1, 1.77 GAA) was in net.
The previous game for the Raiders was the scoreless draw against the visiting Calgary Royals (10-15-6) Feb. 2.
