AJHL Division Finals (March 20th)

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Lloydminster 4 at St. Albert 3 (2OT)
The one that got away. That’s how the St. Albert Saints will view this game when they look back. Now, instead of being in a comfortable position before Game Two the Saints are down a game and in a must-win situation.
The game was a tough battle all night – on the ice and in the stands. A loud Lloydminster contingent cheered wildly for their club and often drowned out “Go Saints Go” chants with “Go Blazers Go.” They also sarcastically chanted Saints forward Jeebo Manah’s name all night and whenever their team scored they erupted into Garry Glitter’s “Rock ‘n Roll Part II”

The game was fairly even early on before St. Albert’s leading scorer in the regular season, Ron Grimard netted his second of the playoffs. It was a hard shot from the left faceoff circle that barely trickled through goaltender Ray Fraser’s pads and past the goal line. A couple of minutes later, Pavel Beranek scored a powerplay marker but it was decided a player was in the crease and the goal did not stand. Lloydminster then began to take over the game this period as first Paul Esdale scored a powerplay goal from the point as it deflected off of several bodies before finding the mesh behind Scott Kabotoff. Several minutes later Kyle Werner scored as he put home a rebound on a two-on-one.
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Thunder Bay Flyers Make Playoffs

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The Thunder Bay Flyers have made the United States Hockey League playoffs for the first time in four years. The Flyers qualified with a 5-2 win over the West Division leading Omaha Lancers. Thunder Bay jumped out to a 3-0 second period lead on goals by Chris Shaffer, Derrick McIver and Jeff Miles. But the Lancers stormed back with two of their own by Jason Jaworski and Jed Ortmeyer.

The Flyers increased the lead back to two goals as Aaron MacKenzie tipped in Mike Tilson’s point shot in the third period. Derrick McIver scored his second of the night on the empty net to send Thunder Bay back to the playoffs. The Flyers once again received strong goaltending from Cory MaEachran who made 43 saves in the win.

The Flyers sit in sixth place but could drop to seventh on the out come of Sunday nights games. The Flyers will either play the Lancers or the Green Bay Gamblers in the USHL Quarter-Finals. The post season will start early next week. Stay tuned to Hockey’s Future for Flyers Updates.

Montreal Canadiens Top junior Prospects Update

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POS HT WT AGE DRAFTED
Mike Ribeiro C 5-10 167 20 D-Mtl98 (2/45)

GP G A PTS +/- PIM PP SH
98-99 Stats 69 67 100 167 +52 137 24 8
(QMJHL)

#1 Strength- Vision and creativity.
#1 Weakness- Size.
Playing with Rouyn-Noranda, the QMJHL’s top offensive team, Ribeiro was on fire the entire season. He averaged 2.42 points per game and won the CHL scoring race by an astonishing 32 points. His +52 was a product of his great offensive skills, while his 8 short handed goals testified to his intelligence and ability to create offense in almost any situation. Which is why he was named the QMJHL’s offensive player of the week 3 times. His penalty minutes have more than doubled compared to last year, an indication that he drew much more attention from his opponents, but did not back down.

Ribeiro finished the season with his 100th assist in a 6-2 win over Val D’or.(end of regular season)

Projection at NHL level- Second line center.
Current Stock Status- On the rise.

POS HT WT AGE DRAFTED
Eric Chouinard C 6-4 192 18 D-Mtl98 (1/16)

GP G A PTS +/- PIM PP SH
98-99 Stats 62 50 59 109 +36 56 15 7
(QMJHL)

#1 Strength- Natural scorer.
#1 Weakness- Doesn’t use size. Read more»

The Surprising Sharks Trio

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Last year, the rookie trio of Patrick Marleau, Andrei Zyuzin and Marco Sturm raised a lot of eyebrows. Marleau was/is thought of as one of the best young centers in the league, Zyuzin was coming along on defense, and Sturm surprised everyone with his exceptional play. This article however, will cover another trio of rookies; none of who were first round picks, in fact, the highest was chosen in the 6th round, and two were never drafted… I am of course speaking of forward Alexander Korolyuk, and defensemen Shawn Heins and Andy Sutton. (Note: Scott Hannan played in 5 games for the Sharks, but was sent to his Junior club in Kelowna. I will not include him in this report, since he is not available for the Sharks at the current time.)
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AJHL Division Finals Preview

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SERIES ‘G’ Olds Grizzlys (28-30-4) vs Calgary Canucks (50-8-4)
Season series (Canucks won 6-2): Canucks 6 at Grizzlys 4; Grizzlys 3 at Canucks 8; Grizzlys 2 at Canucks 11; Olds 6 at Canucks 3; Grizzlys 3 at Canucks 1; Canucks 4 at Grizzlys 3; Grizzlys 4 at Canucks 8; Canucks 9 at Grizzlys 4
Olds’ Last Round (Olds won 4-2): Olds 7 at Royals 6; Royals 7 at Olds 8 (OT); Olds 3 at Royals 7; Royals 6 at Olds 5 (OT); Olds 4 at Royals 3; Royals 2 at Olds 6

Canucks’ Last Round (Canucks won 4-0): Camrose 0 at Canucks 5; Canucks 4 at Camrose 3; Camrose 1 at Canucks 3; Canucks 5 at Camrose 1

Olds players to watch: F Dana Lattery had 69 points and 224 PIM in 48 games, F Ryan Melbourne and F Joel MacAuley were 2-3 in team scoring but only combined for 12 PIM in 123 games. However, although Lattery has been a premiere performer in the playoffs thus far – leading the league with 13 points – Melbourne and MacAuley have been relatively quiet with nine and six points respectively. Two players who have done very well this post-season are Colen Pappas (10 points) and Greg Davis (7 goals).
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