Regals face elimination

High Prairie goaltender Cannon Cunningham makes a save against Grande Prairie’s Jordan Bombier in the second game of their series Feb. 21. The Regals will need more saves like this from Cunningham as they trail the best-of-five series 2-1.

Chris Clegg
South Peace News

Chris Clegg South Peace News It’s do or die time for the High Prairie Regals tonight (Feb. 26 at 8:30 p.m. Sports Palace) when the Grande Prairie Athletics come to town. The A’s lead the best-of-five North Peace Hockey League quarter-final 2-1 after play last week. The Regals will have to win to stay alive, then win on the road in Grande Prairie Feb. 28 in the fifth and deciding game. Game 1 - Feb. 19 Regals 3 at A’s 4 The Regals were crying foul after a late goal was disallowed in a hard-fought opening game Feb. 19. Late season addition Bobby Carifelle opened the scoring at the 2:47 mark before Jordan Bombier’s goal with 20 seconds left in the period tied the game. In the second, Darryl Mahar gave the A’s a 2-1 lead but Lance Gauchier and Justin Paul scored in the final nine minutes of the period and the Regals led 3-2. However, the A’s stepped up their game in the third period outscoring the Regals 2-0 and outshooting them 11-5. Shane Mudryk tied the game with 10:47 left before D.J. McDonald scored the game-winner with 2:36 left. Both teams went scoreless on the power play during the game. The Regals failed to score on four power play chances while the A’s were scoreless on five chances. The A’s outshot the Regals 34-24 in the contest. Game 2 - Feb. 21 A’s 1 at Regals 7 The Regals won a slugfest that featured 194 minutes in penalties with 105 going to the A’s and 89 to the Regals. The Regals took control early by scoring three unanswered goals in the first period. Justin Paul scored twice with Davis Baroldi’s goal sandwiched in-between. The A’s breathed some life into the game as Mudryk scored at 2:40 of the second period. But that was as close as the A’s got. The Regals scored four goals by the end of the period and outshot the A’s 19-12. Brad Macnab started the rally at the 8:48 mark to make it 4-1. T.J. Cunningham’s short-handed goal with Vern Cunningham in the sin bin left no doubt who the better team was on this night. Gauchier and Lee Lamouche added even strength goals in the final three minutes and the rout was on. The teams played a scoreless third period highlighted by several fights. Of note was Kirk Kimble of the A’s, who received a slashing minor, instigating minor, fighting major, game misconduct and gross misconduct after fighting High Prairie’s Tyler Shantz. He faces a two-game suspension and will be back for the fifth game if necessary. The power play continued to be a thorn in the side of both teams. The A’s were blanked on 11 chances while Baroldi’s goal was the only power play marker on seven chances for the Regals. Game 3 - Feb. 23 Regals 2 at A’s 5 As bad as the A’s power play was the first two games, it clicked on all cylinders in a big 5-2 to take a 2-1 series lead. The A’s scored four times with the man advantage on eight chances in the win. The A’s enjoyed period leads of 1-0 and 4-0 while enjoying a shots on goal margin of 20-14. Bombier scored his first of two power play goals on the night in the first period. In the second, NPHL coach-of-the-year Fraser Berg made it 2-0. Mike Mohr and Bombier added power play goals and it was 4-0 A’s. The Regals’ power play began to click in the third period. Darin Konelsky and Tim Cunningham scored power play goals in the first 4:20 of the period but that was as close as the Regals got. Mahar’s power play goal with 2:23 left sealed the game for the A’s, who outshot the Regals 33-23. The A’s scored four times on eight power play chances while the Regals clicked twice on nine chances. Eagles, Rangers advance The Lakeland Eagles and Spirit River Rangers have both advanced to the NPHL semi-finals after sweeping their opponents last week. The Eagles won home ice games 8-5 Feb. 19 and 7-5 Feb. 23 to clinch the series. The middle game in Valleyview Feb. 21 was a 16-3 beating. Jay Anderson held the hot scoring hand. He has seven goals and six assists in three games to lead all playoff scorers. The Rangers also swept the Grimshaw Huskies. The Rangers won 5-2 at home Feb. 19, then won by the same score Feb. 21 in Grimshaw. They wrapped up the series with an 11-3 pasting Feb. 23. Brad Kennedy and Mike Lefley led the charge with six goals each in the series. Kennedy added six assists for 12 points, Lefley four to give him a total of 10 points. They sit second and third in playoff scoring. The Fairview Kings have a 2-0 stranglehold over the defending champion Peace River Stampeders. The Kings shocked the Stamps 9-4 in the opener Feb. 19, then won 4-2 on home ice Feb. 21. The third game of the series was played Feb. 25 because Peace River did not have ice during the weekend.

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