Semis the limit for a few teams
The semifinals were as far as any Medicine Hat-based hockey team got this past weekend in their respective league playoffs.
Whether it was midget, bantam or peewee AA, or the minor midget South East Athletic Club Tigers, a lot of players sat in dressing rooms for the last time with their teams.
In peewee, the Hounds were among the favourites to win the South Central Alberta Hockey League’s south division. After sweeping the round robin, however, they were upended by Lethbridge’s Hurricanes White in Sunday morning’s semifinal in High River.
Dawson Seitz’s second goal of the contest gave the Hounds a 6-5 third period lead. Roman Cherniak also had two while Vann Yuhas and Dawson Stewart had the others. But Sheldon Sawyer forced overtime with 46 seconds left in the third, then Emmanuel Hudson won it in the second extra frame.
Shots were 42 apiece, with Medicine Hat’s Kaiden Morin and Lethbridge’s Ryan DeKok trading saves.
Lethbridge went on to lose the final 10-2 to Lethbridge Hurricanes Red. Red moves on to a best-ofthree league final against Red Deer next weekend.
Medicine Hat also had wins of 6-4 against Chestermere, 12-5 over Foothills, 9-1 versus Airdrie and 12-4 over Cranbrook. Stewart finished the postseason with 16 points, with Cherniak and Dayden Collier tallying 14 apiece.
Bantam AA
Medicine Hat’s bantam AA’s didn’t make it to Sunday but it wasn’t for a lack of trying.
The Hounds opened their playoffs in Okotoks with a 75 loss to Taber Thursday, then tied the host Oilers 4-4 Friday. After a 6-3 loss to Lethbridge they closed with a 6-2 win over Wheatland.
Kyden Moore had seven goals and three assists to pace the Hounds, who were seeded sixth entering the weekend.
Okotoks wound up winning the south division.
Midget AA
As reported in Monday’s News, the midget AA Hounds were edged 4-3 by the eventual tournament champion Wheatland Chiefs in Sunday’s semifinal at the Medicine Hat Arena.
Midget 15s
The puck didn’t bounce the right way for the SEAC Tigers at the Sutter Cup South tournament in Calgary.
The midget 15-year-old team lost all three of its games at the season-ending event, in which they were playing for a consolation title.
They lost 4-2 to Calgary Royals Blue last Thursday, with Caleb Irvine scoring both goals and Dawsen Savage making 17 saves.
Friday included a 5-2 loss to the AC Avalanche and a 5-1 loss to Red Deer TBS Chiefs. Caleb Kinch and Quade Hughson scored against the Avs, with Ethan Barrows making 29 saves. Levi Schlosser scored in the finale, with Savage turning aside 38 pucks.