Crusaders rule
The 40th victory of the season was the championship clincher for the St. Albert Source for Sports Crusaders.
Hayden Carlson, Maddux Nollski (power play), Ethan Pool and Preston Leung scored in the second period, Joshua Cyr added two assists and Cole Crozier handled 25 shots in Monday’s 4-0 result against the Camrose Vikings at Go Auto Arena as the Crusaders swept the best-of-five Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League final.
The Crusaders outshot the Vikings 21-6 in the middle frame for 41 shots on the night.
The shutout was the first for Crozier (6-0, 2.47 GAA) in the playoffs and the team’s second while going 10-0-1 in the post-season following a 26-4-2 (144 GF/66 GA) first-place ranking in league play.
The Crusaders, 40-5-3 overall in league, provincial and playoff action, repeated as NAMHL champions with defenceman Kobe Belyea the lone returnee from last year’s 30-15-4 team.
This year’s final was also the fifth in six years for the Crusaders and the championship was the first since 2014.
The Crusaders started off the final by posting consecutive 3-2 wins on overtime goals by Pool in game one Thursday in St. Albert and Carlson in game two Saturday in Camrose.
In game one, Tanvir Grewal’s unassisted marker with one second left in regulation time was equally as important as Pool’s OT winner as the Crusaders rallied from a two-goal deficit after 40 minutes.
Ronin Pusch, the top playoff scorer with 12 goals and 22 points, cut the lead in half six minutes into the third.
Leung and Cyr assisted on Pool’s sudden-death tally.
Shots were 33-26 for the Crusaders and Crozier was between the pipes.
Crozier also stopped a game-high 30 shots in Camrose while Pool (short-handed) and Pusch tallied in the third period.
The second goal for the Vikings in the third came with 29 seconds left in the period.
Carlson’s winner, with affiliate Dylan Leslie and Carter MacDonald drawing assists, was the 23rd shot for the Crusaders.
The Vikings finished 5-5 in the playoffs after placing third in their division at 19-9-4.
Leading up to the playoffs, the Crusaders lost 2-1 in Camrose in league play and at provincials defeated the Vikings 5-1 in the round robin and 4-1 in the bronze-medal playoff.
U18 nationals
The Curling Canada U18 nationals ended with two playoff losses in a row for rinks skipped by Nathan Molberg and Julia Bakos of St. Albert.
Molberg, third Ben Helston, second Nick Warkman, lead Morgan Bilassy and coach Nicole Bellamy finished 6-3 as Team Alberta after placing first in pool B at 5-1.
Bakos, third Quinn Prodaniuk, second Kim Bonneau, lead Julianna MacKenzie and coach Blair Lenton closed out nationals with a record 5-4 as the Alberta host team after going 4-2 for a share of second place in pool A.
The 14-team male and female tournaments at Sherwood Park were divided into two pools and the top four teams in each of the pools qualified for Saturday’s double-knockout championship round to determine Sunday’s four semifinalists.
Team Molberg started off the playoffs with a 6-2 win over Nova Scotia 2 before suffering losses of 5-4 to Ontario and 5-3 to Nova Scotia.
A deuce in eight against the Nova Scotia 2 rink from Halifax put Team Molberg in the A qualifier against the Ontario rink from Coldwater. Steals of one in three and five made it 4-2 Ontario and the St. Albert squad answered with one in six and a steal of one in seven before the eventual gold medallists scored the winning point in eight.
In the B qualifier, Team Molberg pulled even at three with one in six and the Nova Scotia rink from Truro regained the lead with one in seven and stole the insurance point in eight.
The U18 Alberta rink at the Canada Winter Games qualified for nationals as provincial champions.
Team Bakos opened the playoff round with the 7-4 victory against the Manitoba rink from Dauphin with deuces in the last two ends and the steal of two in eight sealed it.
The A qualifier was the 6-5 loss in an extra end to Ontario as the rink from Manotick battled back from a 4-2 deficit with a deuce in six and a steal of one in seven before Team Bakos tied it at five by counting one in eight.
Ontario, the silver medallist, beat the provincial finalists from the Crestwood 7-6 in pool play with a deuce in eight.
The next game was the B qualifier and British Columbia produced the winning point in eight for the 5-4 decision. The bronze medallists from Kimberley generated three singles in row to lead 4-3 after six ends.
Northern Ontario was the female gold medallist and in pool B defeated Team Bakos 8-6 in the tournament opener with a deuce in eight.
Team Alberta, skipped by Jessica Wytrychowski of Airdrie, lost back-to-back games to Ontario and Manitoba in the championship round after placing first in pool A at 5-1.
The U18 foursome of Bakos, Prodaniuk, second Alyssa Nedohin and MacKenzie represented Alberta at the Games in Red Deer.
Kids of Steel
The St. Albert Triathlon Association is accepting registrations for the 28th annual Kids of Steel on June 9 at Fountain Park Recreation Centre.
Athletes between four and 19 years old can participate as an individual or as a team on a swim-bike-run course that varies in distance according to age group.
The youth/junior/U21 triathlon is also a draft legal race for athletes 14 to 24 years old.
Registration closes June 3 at www.zone4.ca.
Last year’s wet weather didn’t stop 184 finishers in 14 divisions, ranging from U7 to U19 males and females at the Kids of Steel, which was also a qualifying event for the 2018 Alberta Summer Games.
More than 100 volunteers also provided assistance.
For more information or to volunteer, contact Wietske at [email protected] or visit www.stalbertkidsofsteel.com.
Soccer champs
The St. Albert (Gerencser) U19 Tier 4 women’s indoor soccer team rolled over the competition at provincials recently in Calgary.
The fourth win without a loss was 3-1 against McLeod (Chand) in the final.
Julia McDougall, Adriana Shuster and Cassie Kelly potted goals and Paige Semeniuk was in net.
Visit www.StAlbertToday.ca to view the team picture.
The eight-team tournament featured two round-robin pools and the opening match for the gold medallists was 4-3 against Callingwood (Stephen). St. Albert was led by Hanna Boyce’s hat trick and Kelly also scored.
Boyce also piled up four goals in the 11-0 rout of the WHU Wildcats. Braell Young and Amy Christensen potted a pair each while McDougall, Leigh Horsley and Holly McCarthy tallied once.
Boyce and Amy Christensen found the back of the net in the 2-0 decision against Glenora (Wegner).
The community league Tier 4 team’s record in the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association was six wins, three ties and one loss.
