Stettler Storm minor hockey teams are busy on the playoff trail.
Among the results from the past week were:
MIDGET A
Although their season isn’t finished, the midget A Stettler Legion Blues were bounced from their league playoffs Sunday after back-to-back losses to the Ponoka Wolves.
Stettler gave up a 3-1 lead at home Sunday afternoon and lost 7-4 to fall 2-0 in the best-of-three first-round series in the North Central Minor Hockey Association.
Ponoka posted a 5-1 win in Game 1 at home Saturday night.
In the series-ending game, Stettler got goals from Matt Sylvester, Quade Cassidy, Brendan Bardwell and Kieran Rost, who also picked up an assist.
Dustin Bell, with two goals and an assist, and Kellyn Pritchard, with a goal and two assists, sparked Ponoka, which rallied late in the second period to score two short-handed goals and tie the game 3-3, and added four straight goals in the first 5:05 of the third.
Brett Roper faced 35 shots in the Stettler net, while the Blues managed just 20 shots on Aaron Lamb.
Stettler goaltender Jordan McCallum, who split the action with Roper on Saturday night, remained on the sidelines Sunday to nurse an injury.
The Blues couldn’t stop Bell, who netted four goals in Saturday’s game.
The lone Stettler scorer was Levi Fisher, who cut the Ponoka lead to 2-1 three minutes into the final period.
The Wolves fired 34 shots at McCallum and Roper. The Blues had 21 shots against Leeland Averill.
Stettler played the weekend without the likes of injured forward Zack Werbowesky and suspended defenceman Cayden Spady.
Stettler has a couple of weeks to prepare for the midget A provincials, which are set for March 20-23 at Slave Lake.
BANTAM A
After earlier qualifying for the provincials, slated for March 13-16 at Grande Prairie, the Stettler Storm got off to a resounding start in the North Central league playoffs.
Stettler swept Rocky Mountain House 2-0 in their best-of-three series, winning 8-1 on Saturday at Rocky after dumping the visitors 11-1 last Wednesday at Stettler.
In Game 2, Ryan Mielke scored three goals and set up another, Jackson Zimmermann netted two goals and three assists, Tye Mulgrove collected a goal and three assists, and Brenden Tucker added two goals and an assist. Paul du Toit had a couple of assists and Davin Nattestad made 24 saves.
Derian Gaumond faced 60 shots in the Rocky net.
In the opening game, Talon Conner scored three goals and an assist, Daniel Schwarzenberger contributed two goals and an assist, Mulgrove tallied twice, and defencemen Brett Coleman and Cole Pedersen each supplied a goal and two assists. Tucker and Brayden MacDonell each had a goal and an assist.
Stettler’s Nattestad blocked 21 shots, while Gaumond recorded 51 stops for Rocky.
The Storm racked up a combined 132 shots in the two games.