AMBHL This Week

Tuesday Evening
Edmonton SSAC (22-4-3) 7 - Edmonton MLAC (8-22-1) 2
SSAC move two points ahead of Sherwood Park in the race for first in the Nitro North of the AMBHL.  They have just 4 games remaining with just 6 points separating 1st place SSAC and 4th place CAC. In this game it was league scoring leader Giorgio Estephan with 2-1-3, improving him to 34-49-83 which is a 13 point lead over 2nd place Nick Merkley from the Bisons.  League rookie scoring leader Tyler Benson also had a 3 point game going 1-2-3. Josh Hayward scored 2 goals, giving him 24 in 29 games.  For MLAC, 98 born Jevne and Sirianni scored.  Jevne now has 13 goals and trails fellow 98 born Nolan Volcan for the team lead in goals.  Volcan has 16.

SSAC games remaining 
At KC - Fri, 3rd
At Sherwood Park - Sun, 5th
Vs. Grand Prairie Sat, 11th
Vs. St. Albert Sun, 12th

Calgary Royals (23-2-3) 2 - Lethbridge (9-15-4) 1
In what looks like a definite first round playoff preview, it was the Royals walking away with a narrow 2-1 victory on Tuesday.  Lethbridge needs just one more win in their final 4 games to clinch 4th place in the Ram South.  The Royals have already clinched top spot.  Scoring for the Royals in this game was Wihak and captain Cameron Anklewich.  Anklewich leads the Royals in scoring this year at 11-21-32 but is just 45th overall in league scoring.  Defenceman Max Lajoie picked up 2 assists, he now has 11 points this season.  In goal Zach Sawchenko turned aside 27/28 shots.  For Lethbridge, it was Robert Brewin with a huge game with 40 saves on 42 shots.  The lone marker was Michael Grant scoring his 3rd of the season.

Wednesday Evening 
Calgary Bisons (19-9-2) 5 - Okotoks (5-19-4) 0
Both the Bisons and Bronks win on Wednesday evening so the Bisons remain 2 points up on the Bronks and would still have home-ice advantage in the first round.  You have to believe this is very important for Calgary as they can choose to have Merkley/Shmyr away from the Elynuik/Whitby/Rassell combination if they wish.  In this game it was Nick Merkley scoring 1-2-3, he is 2nd in league scoring with 38-32-70 and Braylon Shmyr scored twice, giving him 35 goals.  Matthew Phillips continues his good rookie season.  The 98 born Phillips now has 18 goals.  Mike Barabash turned aside all 26 shots he faced for the shut-out.  Okotoks was once again without its top player in Mason McCarty.  Goalie Jacob Standon stopped 50 of 55 for the Oilers. Okotoks still has faint playoff hopes as they are 6 points back of the Northstar Sabes with each team having 4 games remaining.

St. Albert (18-6-6) 5 - Camrose (13-12-5) 2
St. Albert keeps pace with the teams ahead of them in the log jammed Nitro North, where anything can still happen with the top 4 teams.  Camrose is destined to finish 2nd or 3rd in the Charger North and will play Leduc in the first round.  In this game is was a one line wrecking crew who did Camrose in as the line of Peck-Lazaro-Gennaro combined for 14 points.  Peck had 3-2-5, Gennero 2-3-5 and Lazaro 0-4-4.  Those 3 playes are far and away the leaders for St. Albert this year in scoring.  All-Star goalie Patrick Dea turned aside 28 of 30.  For Camrose, it was top 2 round rated prospect Curtis Miske scoring his team leading 17th and Danton Davis his 14th.  Davis has shown will in Midget AA call-ups this season as well.

Calgary Bronks (17-8-4) 8 - Calgary Northstar Sabres (8-17-4) 2
The Bronks keep pace with the 2nd place Bisons as they remain just 2 points back with a game in hand on them.  The can somewhat control there own destiny with a head to head matchup vs. the Bisons this season in the 2nd last game of the year.  For the Bronks it was captain Zac Whitby with 2 goals and 1 assist.  Whitby is 2nd behind Rassell in Bronks scoring with 24-21-45 in 26 games.  AP call-up Adam Scoville scored twice and 6 pts in 5 games.  Riley Morris stopped 18/20 shots.  Trey Mason and Matthew Davies scored for the Sabres.  For Davies, it was his first of the season.

Calgary Royals (24-2-3) 1 - Okotoks (5-20-4) 0
Okotoks goalie Carter Seminuk was simply outstanding stopping 46 of 47 shots who were once again without top player Mason McCarty.  The lone goal in the game game from Nick Wihak his 9th of the season. Jake Morrissey stopped all 20 shots he faced for the shut-out.  The Royals have allowed a remarkable 1.62 goals per game this season.  They are on pace to allow the least amount of goals in AMBHL history!

Edmonton CAC (19-8-3) 5 - Sherwood Park (21-5-3) 3
CAC continue their hot streak and keep their home-ice advantage in the first round hopes alive with a big win last night.  Dylan Stewart continues to roll by scoring 3 times, giving him 29 this season and 44 points.  Brayden Burke scored his 23rd of the season as well.  For Sherwood Park, it was Guhle, Biro and 98 born Sam Steel with the goals.  Steel also added an assist and leads the Flyers with 44 points this season.