Provincials are the next stop for the U17 AAA Lloydminster Lancers.
Lloyd qualified for the Alberta Elite Hockey League championship tournament Sunday night, after defeating the host Southside Bulldogs of Edmonton 6-3 in the third and deciding game of their best-of-three North Division semifinal.
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At home the night before, the Lancers scored a 4-3 victory at Servus Sports Centre’s Holmes Arena to keep their season going.
Lloydminster had lost 5-2 in the series-opener last Wednesday (March 18) at Edmonton.
Now, the Lancers are among five teams bound for the April 2-5 provincials at Spruce Grove, with the Parkland Saints as the hosts.
Also in the mix are the Edmonton CAC Canadians and two Calgary teams, the Northstars and the Royals.
Lloyd’s first game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thursday (April 2) against CAC, the regular-season champion in the 20-team provincial league.
In other preliminary games, the Lancers face Parkland at noon Friday (April 3), the Northstars at 9 a.m. Saturday and the Royals at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The medal games are set for Sunday, with the bronze at 10 a.m. and the gold at 2 p.m.
LANCERS 6, BULLDOGS 3
This past Sunday (March 22) at Booster Juice Recreation Centre in Edmonton, the Lancers went up 3-0 in the first period and stretched that lead to 4-0 at the midway mark when Austin Blackmore, with his second goal of the night, scored on the power play.
Southside rallied with two goals late in the second period and cut Lloyd’s lead to 4-3 when Mackenzie Manuntag scored his second power-play goal with 8:15 left in regulation time.
But the Lancers stemmed the tide, as Easton Carfantan netted his second of the night with 3:32 left and Kaleb Hozack added an empty-netter in the final minute.
Top scorer Shaun Going also tallied for Lloydminster before he was ejected from the game midway through the second period. He received a boarding major and a game misconduct.
Taythan Willis, with six points in his past four games, assisted on three of Lloyd’s goals. Logan Cooper and Emmerson Gray each had two assists.
Sam Bennett had the other goal for Southside, which managed 20 shots on Lloyd goaltender Brayden Gramlich. The Lancers fired 32 shots at the six-foot-four, 200-pound Emmett Poelzer.
LANCERS 4, BULLDOGS 3
In Saturday’s game at Lloydminster, Blackmore’s goal with 9:20 remaining put the Lancers up 4-2 and proved to be the winner.
Manuntag’s second goal of the night with just under five minutes left made it a one-goal game.
Gramlich blocked 24 shots as the Lancers held the fort. They fired 40 shots at Bulldogs goalie Liam Comeau.
Carfantan, Hunter Prybysh and Caleb Oxford also scored for Lloydminster.
Nate Christenson had the other Southside goal.
BULLDOGS 5, LANCERS 2
In the series-opener at Edmonton, the Lloydminster goals came from Blackmore, on the power play, and Jordan Beattie.
Bennett and Ghyan Brar scored power-play tallies for Southside, which also got goals from Jett Tran, Oliver Chorley and Josh Barkemeyer.
It was a four-point night for Barkemeyer and a three-point game for Chorley.
Brar and Lucas Folk each had two points. Brar’s marker with 3:45 left in the second period put the Bulldogs up 3-2 and ahead to stay.
Both teams generated 35 shots. Poelzer tended goal for Southside and Evan Fedor for Lloyd.
BY THE NUMBERS
With three wins in as many playoff games, Lloydminster’s Gramlich has a 2.33 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.
Carfantan (4 goals, 2 assists), Willis (1-5), Prybysh (2-4) and Hozack (2-4) lead the Lancers with six points each in five playoff games.
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