It was a quiet finish to the season for both of Medicine Hat’s peewee AA hockey teams, with neither getting to Sunday’s division final in Strathmore.
At the South Central Alberta Hockey League’s South tournament in Strathmore, Medicine Hat Black got the furthest, losing to Wheatland 5-3 in a Saturday semifinal. Orange couldn’t crack the top-four.
Black had a win and two ties in the round robin portion of the event.
On Thursday they drew Okotoks Green 3-3, getting goals from Ryler Straarup, Cole Fisher and Kade Dickie plus 31 saves from Kolter Gans.
A 5-1 win over Foothills Friday saw Fisher and Ryan Miller with three-point efforts, plus single goals from Colson Wereley, Colby Motza and Ty Wasyluk. Kayne Wright had 25 saves.
They tied the Golden Suns 5-5 with Gans making 43 saves, Fisher and Motz with two goals each and Miller with the other.
Miller had two more in the semifinal loss, with Wereley notching the other, but a pair of power-play goals in the third wrapped up the win for the Braves.
Medicine Hat Orange fell 4-2 to Cranbrook Thursday, Josiah Jackson assisting on goals from Cash Olson and Kieran Wyrostok.
They then lost 3-1 to WheatlandBrayden Weiss with the lone goal and Adam Ranger making 32 saves.
Needing a win they only managed a 5-5 tie with Lethbridge White on Friday evening, Olson scoring a hat trick and both Jackson and Tate Bowal with singles. Lethbridge got the game-tying goal with two minutes left. Pryce Velichko made 39 saves.
The Golden Suns beat the Braves 5-4 for the division banner.
Midget girls
The Southern Express, featuring a handful of Hat players, won its first-round midget elite playoff series over Airdrie this past weekend.
Hayley Whelen made 13 saves in a 2-1 Game 1 win Friday at the Family Leisure Centre in Medicine Hat.
Maddison King had two goals Saturday in Vauxhall including the game-winner in a come-from-behind 4-3 decision to sweep the series. Whelen (17 saves) and Devyn Amundson (nine saves), like King all from the Gas City, both saw time between the pipes.
Next up is a series with Calgary Fire White starting Friday in Calgary. White had a first-round bye but only finished a spot ahead of the Express in the regular season.
Bantam girls
Also in the Alberta Female Hockey League, the Southern Express bantam elite team had a large contingent of Hat players this season.
They finished with a tight 2-1 series loss to Red Deer.
Red Deer won 4-3 in overtime Friday, with Hat goalie Madelaine Ferguson doing her best despite her team being outshot 41-18.
Southern forced a deciding game with a 4-2 road win Saturday, Briana Finke’s two third-period goals key.
The Chiefs took the third game 4-2 Sunday, Ferguson making another 28 saves.
The Express went 4-22 in the regular season and were underdogs against the 13-13 Chiefs.
Peewee girls
It’s going to take an extra game to decide the playoff series between Medicine Hat’s peewee girls Wildcats and West Central’s.
In a battle of teams with the same name, the Hat Cats won the opener 5-1 but fell 3-1 in Game 2, meaning Game 3 will be at the Kinplex this Saturday at 2 p.m.
Riley Gramlich had three goals in hte win, with Myla Motz and Katie Kuipers scoring the others. Keyana Bert had the lone goal in the loss.
