Raiders Buffaloed
Two overtime losses left the St. Albert Nektar Raiders facing an uphill battle against the Calgary Buffaloes in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
The Buffaloes won game one 3-2 with a penalty shot in the first OT period at Calgary and in game two scored short-handed in the second extra period for the 4-3 result at Akinsdale Arena.
Game three in the best-of-five series was played Tuesday in Calgary and the score was unavailable at press time.
If required, game four is 7 p.m. Thursday at Akinsdale and game five is 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Cardel Rec South Arena.
The winner hosts the Pacific Region best-of-three series April 5 to 7 against the B.C. champion for a berth at the Telus Cup, April 22 to 28 at Thunder Bay, Ont.
The Raiders will have to duplicate their come-from-behind exploits in the north division final against the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers in order to win the team’s first provincial championship since 1990.
The Raiders rattled off three victories against the Rangers, including the game four double OT affair, after giving up power-play goals 2:55 into sudden death in game one and 3:44 in the third OT period in game two.
The Buffaloes ended game one Friday with Justin Ross beating netminder Evan Fradette with a penalty shot at 3:43 of OT as Tyson Kowaluk was whistled for the infraction.
The Raiders forced OT on goals by Tyson Greenway at 6:40 and Eric Perneel at 18:55 in the third.
Shots were 30-22 for the Buffaloes.
In game two Sunday, Carter Benoit scored unassisted late on the penalty kill halfway through the second OT period.
The Raiders led 3-2 after 40 minutes as Jaxon Dube connected in the first and the second of two goals by Noah Kramps in the middle frame was generated on the power play.
The Buffaloes also potted goals short-handed and at even strength in the second before pulling even at 3-3 on the power play at 12:32 of the third.
Fradette (6-4, 1.86 GAA) stopped a game-high 33 shots while the Raiders registered 30 shots against Garin Bjorklund (8-2, 1.54 GAA).
Perneel and Dube lead the Raiders in playoff goals with four apiece and Brady Nicholas is the top point producer with nine.
The Raiders finished first in the north at 19-11-4 (116 GF/92 GA) and are 6-4 (33 GF/21 GA) in the playoffs while the Buffaloes (24-7-3, 144 GF/74 GA) tied with the defending champion Lethbridge Hurricanes (25-8-1) for first place in the south and in the playoffs are 8-2 6-2 (36 GF/16 GA).
Flyers win provincials
The St. Albert Flyers blew away the Lethbridge Hurricanes for the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League provincial championship.
The Flyers piled up five goals before Lethbridge got on the scoreboard in Sunday’s 6-3 final at The Meadows Community Recreation Centre.
Chase Visser, Kaleb West and Dylan Leslie (power play) in the first period, Visser (power play) in the middle frame and Aidyn Hutchinson at 8:29 of the third lifted the Flyers into a commanding lead before Lethbridge capitalized with the man advantage at 13:20 to spoil the shutout bid by Carson Ironside (4-0, 1.75 GAA).
Zachry Desranleau’s short-handed marker with 53 seconds to play closed out the victory as the Flyers finished 6-0-1 in the tournament.
Ironside finished with 32 saves while the Flyers registered 32 shots.
West, Payton McDonald-Corea, Graeme Hampton and Ethan Sundar collected two assists apiece against the south division leaders at 28-4-2 for first place overall in the AMMHL.
Visit www.St.AlbertToday.ca to view the team’s championship picture.
The Flyers qualified for the six-team provincials by going 3-1-1 as the second-place team in the north division playoff tournament after finishing tied for third in the north standings with the Leduc Oil Kings with identical 21-10-3 records.
In the round robin, the Flyers compiled victories of 7-1 against Lethbridge, winner of the last two provincials, 5-1 against the Leduc Oil Kings, 6-2 against the host SSAC Bulldogs and settled for a 3-3 draw with the Red Deer Chiefs.
In the provincial qualifier, Leduc defeated the Flyers 5-3 in the March 10 north final in Lloydminster as both teams advanced to the championship tournament.
Saturday’s 4-3 semifinal against SSAC, 12-17-5 in the north division, was decided by three unanswered goals in the third as Palmer Strang pulled the Flyers to within one at 6:31 and Hampton pumped in a pair at 11:52 at even strength and 16:42 on the power play.
It was 3-0 SSAC when Sundar lit the lamp at 11:25 in the first and in the second Strang notched the team’s second goal before SSAC made it 4-2 on the power play at 16:30.
The Flyers put 30 pucks on net and netminder Ethan Kadatz (2-0-1, 2.67 GAA) was credited with 12 saves.
Visser led the Flyers in scoring at provincials with 13 points and McDonald-Corea chipped in with 11 assists for 12 points.
Sundar and Hampton finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Visser, Sundar, Hampton and Desranleau also found the back of the net six times.
Royals in game five
The Rural & Edmonton REM 15AA Midget Hockey League champion will be crowned tonight in Sylvan Lake as the St. Albert Royals and Hockey Central Panthers face off in the deciding game of the best-of-five series.
Puck drop is 7:15 p.m. between the top two teams in league play and last year’s playoff finalists.
Back-to-back shutouts by the Panthers, the defending champions, extended the series to a fifth game after the Royals posted wins of 2-1 in Sylvan Lake and 4-3 in overtime as Nico Gallo netted the sudden-death winner at Go Auto Arena.
The Panthers outshot the Royals 47-23 in the 5-0 decision Saturday in Sylvan Lake and 36-22 Sunday at Akinsdale Arena.
Ethan Weir (3-2, 2.81 GAA) was between the pipes in game three as the Panthers capitalized on the power play in the last minute of the opening period to make it 2-0.
In game four, Jack Robinson (5-1, 1.97 GAA) gave up a goal in the first frame and the Panthers added an empty-netter in the last minute of play.
Gallo and Owen Bourque are tied for second in playoff scoring with 13 points apiece and Brydon Foster leads the Royals in goals with eight.
Luke Aston and Kaelan Shelton potted six goals apiece while Gallo and Bourque have five each.
Foster and Shelton also complied 11 points and Aston has 10.
The Panthers (24-1-5, 177 GF/39 GA) and Royals (23-3-4, 144 GF/56 GA) placed first and second, respectively, in the standings and in the playoffs the Royals are 8-3 and the Panthers are 8-2.
