The divisional finals of the 2025 Alberta Junior Hockey League Inter Pipeline Cup kicked off on Friday, April 4.
The Whitecourt Wolverines hosted the Grande Prairie Storm for the first two games of the series, losing Friday’s game 4-1 and Saturday’s game 2-0.
Brandon de Hass opened the scoring for the Storm 11:30 into the first period. de Haas’ second goal of the postseason was assisted by Logan Cunningham.
Will Harris extended the Storm’s lead to 2-0 with a power play goal at 18:58. Harris’ third goal of the postseason was assisted by Carter Streek and Tomis Marinkovic.
At the end of the first period, the Grande Prairie Storm had outshot the Whitecourt Wolverines 14-10 and took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
Braden Keeble got the Wolverines on the board with his second goal of the postseason at 19:43 of the second period. Dylan Ruptash and Xavier Lacoste were credited with the assists.
At the end of the second period, the Whitecourt Wolverines had outshot the Grande Prairie Storm 14-5 but the Storm still had a 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission.
Then Alec Hall scored his fifth goal of the postseason for Grande Prairie at 1:22 of the third period with assists from Zachary Wilson and Justin Vandermeer.
Later, Chase Christensen scored his first goal of the postseason on an empty net at 19:52, to secure the 4-1 win for the Storm. Matthew Gillard and Zachary Wilson chipped in with the helpers.
At the end of the third period, the Grande Prairie Storm had outshot the Whitecourt Wolverines 19-9 and 38-33 in total.
Wolverines’ goaltender Zac Onyskiw made 34 saves on the 37 shots he faced.
Grande Prairie Storm goaltender Nicholas Jones made 32 saves on the 33 shots he faced in support of the Storm’s 4-1 victory.
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The Grande Prairie Storm shut out the Wolverines 2-0 for game two of the series, which was played on Saturday, April 5.
Kaiden Bugera scored a power play goal at 18:48 of the first period to give the Storm an early 1-0 lead. Buegera’s second goal of the postseason was assisted by Alec Hall.
At the end of the first period, the Grande Prairie Storm had outshot the Whitecourt Wolverines 8-5 and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Despite the Storm once again outshooting the Wolverines 17-9 in the second period, neither team was able to score.
Max Leduc then scored his third goal of the postseason at 16:50 of the third period to secure the 2-0 win for the Storm. Tomis Marinkovic was credited with the assist on Leduc’s goal.
The Whitecourt Wolverines outshot the Grande Prairie Storm 7-5 in the third period, but the Storm outshot the Wolverines 30-21 in total.
Wolverines’ goaltender Zac Onyskiw made 28 saves on the 30 shots he faced.
Grande Prairie Storm goaltender Nicholas Jones was perfect on all 21 shots he faced.
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With these wins, the Grande Prairie Storm have taken a 2-0 series lead over the Whitecourt Wolverines.
In the AJHL Southern Division, the Calgary Canucks have also taken a 2-0 series lead over the Drumheller Dragons with a 4-3 win on Friday and a 6-2 win on Saturday
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The Wolverines will now head to Grande Prairie for games three and four, which have been scheduled for Monday, April 7, and Tuesday, April 8.
Puck drop for both games is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., and you can catch all the action live on XM105FM, home of the Whitecourt Wolverines.
