Olds Wolverines win zone title
The Olds Peewee Wolverines clinched the Zone 6 championship and a berth at the Peewee B Provincial hockey tournament on the weekend after beating Drumheller 10-2, bringing a long qualifying process to an end for the team.
While the team had a provincial berth secured thanks to making it to the zone final against the provincial tourney hosts, the Wolverines ensured they had the zone title captured thanks to a dominating final game in the two-game, total-goals series.
Heading into Saturday night's game the two teams were deadlocked at 5-5.
To claim the zone title, the Wolverines had to win four rounds of qualifying, including the final series with Drumheller. En route to the zone final, the locals beat Canmore 11-3 in their opening round series.
In their second round, they battled back from a 5-4 opening leg deficit to the Kneehill Chiefs to win 6-5 on total goals, putting them into a series with Bassano from which the winner would earn a provincial peewee B spot due to Drumheller being host.
Olds won the series 9-5 and clinched their spot in the March 24-27 event in the Badlands community.
By qualifying for provincials, the Wolverines became the seventh Olds Minor Hockey Association team to earn a shot at an Alberta title. Other Olds teams in provincials include the Midget Mustangs and Bantam Chiefs from the boys' side, while the Atom Thunder, Peewee Thunder, Bantam Renegades and Midget Renegades all qualified out of the girls' program.
Playoff exit has Mustangs singing the Blues
Despite being the hottest team in the North Central Minor Hockey Association's midget tier I division coming into the playoffs, the Olds Midget Mustangs ended up getting a severe case of the Blues.
The local midget A team dropped two straight to the Stettler Blues in quarter-final playoff action, to drop the best of three series 2-0 to the team that finished seventh in the seven-team league.
Friday night the locals dropped a 6-3 decision on home ice, giving up three goals in the third period to the visitors putting them in a must-win situation heading into Sunday's second game in Stettler. Brandon Kosik, Rhett Couture and Carson Jorgensen scored for the Mustangs on Friday.
In Sunday's game, a goal by Stettler with 1:17 left in the third period propelled the Blues to a 2-1 win, clinching the series from the Olds squad.
Aaron Miller scored the Mustangs' only goal in the third period to tie the game at 1-1. The real story of the game was Stettler goaltender Mack Schell, who stopped 39 shots to backstop the Blues to the victory.
Olds will now focus on the Minor AA Provincials, set for March 24-27 in Peace River. Stettler moves on to play Innisfail in the semifinal round of league playoffs.
Olds native helps SAIT to women's hockey final
The SAIT Polytechnic Trojans women's hockey team got a helping hand from an Olds Minor Hockey product in reaching the ACAC women's hockey final.
Bianca Zuber, in her first year with the Trojans after transferring from Grant MacEwan, scored two goals and added two assists in the best-of-five semifinal series where the Trojans dispatched the NAIT Ooks three games to one.
Zuber scored in game one to help SAIT to a 4-3 win and also scored and added two assists in a 5-0 game three victory. SAIT clinched the series with a 6-3 win on Friday night.
The Trojans will move on to face the dominant Mount Royal University Cougars, who swept MacEwan 3-0. MRU lost only once all season and swept the season series between the two Calgary schools.
- Wild, MVP Staff
