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Midget A Blues tie northern teams after loss to league-leading Innisfail

The Stettler Legion Blues picked up a pair of weekend points at home in their final midget A hockey action before the Christmas break.
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Brendan Bardwell

The Stettler Legion Blues picked up a pair of weekend points at home in their final midget A hockey action before the Christmas break.

They tied the Barrhead Steelers 3-3 on Dec. 22, one day after tying Edson 1-1 at the Stettler Recreation Centre.

Stettler began that busy stretch of three games in four days with a 4-3 loss to the Innisfail Flyers, who lead the North Central Minor Hockey Association midget Tier 1 division with a 14-2 record.

Stettler (6-8-2) is in third place in the five-team South Division, behind Innisfail and the Ponoka Wolves (11-4-2).

In their most recent game a week ago Sunday, the Blues rallied from a 3-0 deficit and scored all three third-period goals to pull even against Barrhead (10-2-3).

Power-play goals from Matt Sylvester and Dylan Pritchard, with the winner with just 1:11 left, sandwiched a Quade Cassidy goal. Sylvester and teammate Ethan Rost each had two-point games for Stettler, which got a 39-save performance from Jordan McCallum.

On the previous day, McCallum blocked 38 shots by Edson (7-4-3).

The lone Stettler scorer was Brendan Bardwell, who tallied in the first period before Edson evened the score halfway through the second period.

In losing to Innisfail on Dec. 19, the Blues gave up 2-0 and 3-1 leads in the third period to suffer a one-goal defeat.

Drew Cassidy, Chase Cooke and Tanner Steinwand each scored for Stettler. Innisfail’s Ryan Spiller netted the tying goal on a power play with six minutes left and the winner with just 56 seconds remaining.

Cooke and Bardwell each picked up a couple of points for the Blues, while McCallum made 49 saves.

Patrick Fougere figured in all four Innisfail goals, including three assists. Greg Pols blocked 32 shots.

For the past couple of weeks, Stettler has played without two injured players, Zack Werbowesky and Cody Ball.

Now off for the Christmas break, the Blues and Stettler’s two other midget teams host their annual tournament this Friday through Sunday at both Stettler Recreation rinks.

Sunday’s finals are at 1 p.m. (B division), 1:15 p.m. (C category) and 3:45 p.m. (A division).