by Stephen Dafoe
After dropping one to the Edmonton Mustangs on Wednesday, the Jets took back-to-back wins on the weekend, defeating the Leduc Co-op Riggers 6-2 Friday on the road, and taking down the visiting Spruce Grove Regals 3-1 Sunday night.
The pair of wins brings the Jets to a 13-21-1 record this season and a fifth-place standing in the CJHL’s West Division with just three games left in the regular season.
RIGGERS
Friday’s road trip was an example of the team capitalizing on its powerplay opportunities. The Jets took two of the three available to them on Friday, the first being their first goal in the first period.
That goal, pocketed by Jason Morgan was added to by Josh McRae to bring the Jets to a 2-0 lead over the Riggers. Leduc answered back with two in the closing minutes to leave the game tied at 2-2.
But the second period belonged to the Jets. Starting with a powerplay goal from Dillon Watt, Josh McRae and Colby Maclean brought the tally to 5-2 in the Jets favour.
McRae earned his hattrick in the final frame with an unassisted goal with 1:22 left in the game.
REGALS
Sunday night’s home game saw the Jets capitalizing on powerplay chances in a 1-to-5 ratio, but throughout the contest, the Jets outshot the Regals 44 to 32.
Trailing by one at the start of the game, Regan Regimbald evened the score for the Jets with 7:48 left in the first period.
Regimbald doubled his tally on the powerplay in the middle frame to give the Jets a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
The final period was a scoreless affair with neither side pocketing one until Josh McRae earned his first of the game and fourth of the weekend with 1:05 left on the clock.
The Jets take on the St. Albert Merchants Friday night on the road, and the Stony Plain Flyers at home Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
The Jets will ultimately face one of the two teams in the first round of CJHL playoffs. With the Flyers and Merchants five points apart with four games remaining, it is too soon to tell which of the two teams the Morinville Jets will take on in the opening round of playoffs in a couple of weeks.
