Midget AA final
Two wins in four days against the Camrose Vikings at provincials bodes well for the St. Albert Source for Sports Crusaders in the Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League final.
Game one against the Vikings starts 8:15 p.m. Thursday at Akinsdale Arena.
Game two is 6 p.m. Saturday in Camrose and game three is 7:15 p.m. Monday at Go Auto Arena.
If required, game four is April 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Camrose and game five is April 12 at 9 p.m. at Mark Messier Arena.
The Crusaders, last year’s league champions, are 7-0-1 in the playoffs after placing first overall in the regular season at 26-4-2.
At provincials, the Crusaders finished 4-1 as bronze medallists after defeating the Vikings 4-1 Sunday at The Meadows Community Recreation Centre.
Maddux Nollski and Hayden Carlson capitalized on the power play and Joshua Cyr’s goal with 63 seconds left in the second period made it 3-0.
Matthew Reidy also scored while Carlson added two assists.
Shots were 32-29 for the Crusaders with Evan Hergott (2-1, 2.33 GAA) in net.
In the five-team round robin, the Crusaders (13 GF/8 GA), Medicine Hat Hounds (23 GF/6 GA) and CNHA Canucks (18 GF/13 GA) tied for first at 3-1.
The Crusaders lost 5-2 to the Canucks and edged Medicine Hat 2-1 on third-period goals by Carter MacDonald and Cuyler Matheson as Cole Crozier (2-0, 1.00 GAA) stopped a game-high 29 shots.
Medicine Hat went on to beat the Canucks 5-2 in the final after blanking the Calgary team 5-0 in the tournament opener.
The first game for the Crusaders was 5-1 against the Vikings (0-4-1), followed by the 4-1 decision against the Canadian Athletic Club (0-3-1).
Leading up to provincials, the Crusaders swept the CAC (13-8-1) by scores of 3-0 and 6-4 in the NAMHL’s best-of-three Metro conference final for a berth in the fifth championship series in six years for the midget AA team.
The Vikings (19-9-4) are 5-2 in the playoffs as the Rural conference playoff winners.
One of the league victories was 2-1 against the Crusaders on Nov. 4 in Camrose.
Ronin Pusch led the Crusaders in scoring at provincials with five goals and seven points. Reidy produced six points and Nollski and Ethan Pool tallied three goals apiece.
Pusch is also the NAMHL’s top playoff scorer with 10 goals and 20 points.
Pusch’s double overtime goal in the 4-3 Besa division final against the Sturgeon Sting (20-10-2) March 12 and Crozier’s 42 saves lifted the Crusaders into the Metro conference playoff series against the CAC of the Anderson division.
Silver for Sharks
The St. Albert Sharks ended the Alberta Female Hockey League season with the midget elite team’s second provincial silver medal in as many years.
The 5-1 loss to Calgary Fire Red in Sunday’s final at Grande Prairie left the Sharks with a record of 21-12 in league, playoff and provincial action.
Last year the Sharks dropped a 2-1 decision to Calgary Fire White in the provincial final featuring the top two AFHL teams.
This year Sharks (17-9) placed first in north division teams while Fire White (21-4-1) and Fire Red (21-3-2) were co-leaders in the south.
In the five-team provincial round robin, the Sharks lost 2-1 in a shootout to Fire White, defeated the host Peace Country Storm 5-1, fell 1-0 to Fire Red and beat the Sherwood Park Fury 5-3.
The final was decided in the third period with four goals by Fire Red (5-0) after Regan Ackroyd’s power-play tally knotted the count at one at 11:29 of the second period. Julianna Giacobbo and Kirsten Legge drew assists.
Fire Red potted the go-ahead goal with the man advantage at 13:57 of the third and three minutes later made it 3-1.
Two goals with under three minutes remaining, including an empty-netter, closed out the scoring.
Shots in the final were not listed in the Hockey Alberta scoring summary.
In the round robin, shots were even at 34 apiece as Fire Red netted the only goal in the middle frame against Laney Pasemko.
The bronze playoff was 6-4 for Fury (3-2) against Fire White (2-3).
The tournament opener against Fire White ended with Calgary outscoring the Sharks 2-1 in the shootout as eight players took turns trying to light the lamp.
Aidan Soltis scored the lone shootout goal for the Sharks after notching the equalizer at 6:35 of the third and Katie Charko assisting in the play.
Shots were 33- 31 for the Sharks with Pasemko between the pipes.
Layla Hood tended the twine against the Storm (0-4) and the Fury (14-8-4), ranked second in the north.
Charko led the Sharks at provincials with four goals and six points.
Annika Neset produced three goals and Giacobbo finished with three assists.
AJHL honours
St. Albert minor hockey products Carter Savoie and Michael Benning of the Sherwood Park Crusaders were recognized for outstanding seasons in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Savoie, the recipient of the Dick White Trophy as the AJHL’s rookie of the year, was selected to the North Division All-League Team and joined Benning on the North Division All-Rookie Team.
Savoie, a left-winger, finished fifth in AJHL scoring with 73 points while potting 31 goals in 58 games and served 67 penalty minutes.
Savoie was one of only four 2002-born players invited to the Team Canada West selection camp for the 2018 World Junior A Challenge.
Benning, a defenceman, racked up 51 assists in 60 games for 61 points as well as 99 penalty minutes.
Savoie and Benning, both 17, are committed to Denver University for the 2021-22 season.
The Crusaders (44-14-2), first in the north, are playing the Spruce Grove Saints (40-17-3) in the best-of-seven division final and after eight playoff games Savoie produced seven assists and nine points and Benning had seven helpers.
The last season in St. Albert for Savoie and Benning was with the 2016-17 bantam AAA St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres before joining the Northern Alberta Xtreme in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.
