by Stephen Dafoe
The Morinville Junior B Jets earned two out of four points available this past week, defeating the Stony Plain Flyers 5-3 on the road Wednesday but falling 7-5 to the visiting Sherwood Park Knights on Sunday.
The win and loss bring the Morinville Jets to a 15-6-1 record 22 games into the 2022-2023 season. That tally places the Jets in the Capital Junior Hockey Leagues West Division, three points behind the North Edmonton Red Wings and six points behind the League Leading St. Albert Merchants.
The Jets started the week with a road game against the 13-9-1 Stony Plain Flyers. The club led the Flyers 3-0 after one, Blake Sydlowski picking up the last two of those goals and assisting on the Jets’ first.
Although the Flyers opened scoring in the middle frame, they still trailed Morinville 3-1 after two. The final period gave both sides a pair of goals and Morinville the win.
Despite the loss, Stony outshot Morinville 52-39, most of those chances stopped by Jets’ goalie James Hunt.
Sunday night’s home game ended the Jets’ three-game winning streak. Although Ethan Dechamplain opened scoring for the Jets early on with an unassisted contribution, by the end of the frame, the Jets trailed narrowly at 3-2.
That margin remained after two, with each side pocketing a pair, putting the game at 5-4 in Sherwood Park’s favour. The Knights advanced that lead to 7-4 a little over halfway through the frame. Although Graeme Hampton pocked an unassisted goal at 4:24, the Jets ended the day two short for overtime.
The Jets play the Leduc Co-op Riggers Friday, Dec. 9, on the road at 8 p.m. and return home to face the 18-3-1 St. Albert Merchants Sunday, Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m.
