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Blues one step closer to midget A provincials

The Stettler Legion Blues were road warriors on Family Day as they moved one step closer to a berth
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The Stettler Legion Blues crowd the Whitecourt net in the late stages of a 3-3 tie with the Wolverines in midget A hockey action Sunday at the Stettler Recreation Centre.

The Stettler Legion Blues were road warriors on Family Day as they moved one step closer to a berth in the provincial midget A hockey championship.

The Blues gutted out a 3-1 victory over host Sherwood Park on Monday night in the opener of a two-game, total-goal provincial qualifying series.

Game 2 of the zone final goes Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Stettler Recreation Centre.

Quade Cassidy figured in all three Stettler goals, scoring the opener and assisting on Matt Sylvester and Kieran Rost markers. Rost and Brett Rider each picked up two points.

“We really showed a lot of heart,” said Blues assistant coach and co-manager Neil McCallum.

“We were in lots of short-handed situations in the second and third periods, but our PK (penalty kill) was awesome. No shots on goal were recorded, but Jordan (goaltender McCallum) was outstanding.”

Rookie linemates Cassidy and Sylvester gave Stettler a 2-0 lead in the first period.

“Sherwood Park got one back with a great shot under the bar to close the gap in the second,” coach McCallum said. “In the third, Kieran Rost ripped a shot that hit the back bar to restore the two-goal lead.”

The Blues — provincial midget B gold-medallists last season — are trying to punch their ticket to the A provincials, which are set for March 20-23 at Slave Lake.

“We hope to have lots of fans come cheer us on Thursday in Stettler,” McCallum said.

Stettler finished its North Central Minor Hockey Association schedule last weekend with a 3-3 tie Sunday afternoon against the visiting Whitecourt Wolverines.

Sylvester, who was stopped on a penalty shot earlier in the third period, scored a power-play goal with 24 seconds left — and Stettler goaltender Brett Roper on the bench in favour of an extra skater — to pull the Blues even.

Cassidy scored with 10 minutes remaining as Stettler began its rally from a 3-1 deficit. Cassidy and Rider assisted on Sylvester’s tying goal.

Stettler’s Tanner Steinwand, on a Zack Werbowesky setup, netted the game’s first goal.

Roper, called up from the Stettler midget B team, responded with a 38-save performance. Whitecourt’s Colton Jakubow made 31 stops, including a couple of breakaways.

Jordan Smith tallied twice for the Wolverines, while Ethan Cartwright added a goal and an assist.

Stettler (10-12-4) is third in the South Division, while Whitecourt (1-21-1) is last in the North.

On the road last Friday, the Blues tripped the South cellar-dwellers, the Rocky Royals, 4-2.

Rost, the Stettler captain, fired two goals. Sylvester and Dylan Pritchard each contributed a goal and an assist.

McCallum blocked 33 shots for the Blues. Taylor McLaughlin made 34 stops for Rocky, which is last in the South Division with a 5-18-1 record.

Pritchard received a match penalty in the Rocky game and wasn’t available to play with Stettler against Whitecourt on Sunday and Sherwood Park on Monday.