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Vipers, Wranglers sweep opening round

The Red Deer Vipers and Blackfalds Wranglers are moving on.

The Red Deer Vipers and Blackfalds Wranglers are moving on.

The Vipers and Wranglers completed sweeps of their respective Heritage Junior B Hockey League North Division best-of-five semifinal series Saturday, with Red Deer downing the visiting Stettler Lightning 4-3 in overtime and host Blackfalds destroying the Rimbey Rock 17-4.

David Foord’s goal five minutes into overtime lifted the Vipers past the Lightning. Maverick Blair sniped a pair of goals for the winners, with affiliate Steven Pietsch also scoring.

Clayton Herzog, with two goals, and Adam McDavid scored for Stettler, which got a 40-save effort from Landon Schmidt. Mike Stonehouse stopped 30 shots for Red Deer, which took four of nine minor penalties and the lone misconduct.

At Blackfalds, David Jantzie fired four goals and Kurtis Ross recorded a hat trick and added four assists as the Wranglers waltzed to a one-sided victory. Kyle Maas and Greg Gross each tallied twice for the winners, while Jason Bell, Jared Williams, Brett Lapointe, Tyler Ellerby, Brant Leischner and Brandon Regush each scored once.

Davin Waisanen, with a pair of goals, Connor Sibbet and Justin Lawson answered for the Rock, who were assessed two of three minor penalties.

Tanner Schalin turned aside 26 shots for Blackfalds. Rimbey goaltender Aaron Shukin made 48 saves.

• The Three Hills Thrashers bowed out of the Heritage League playoffs with Friday’s 5-2 home-ice loss to the Cochrane Generals, who swept the best-of-five Central Division semifinal.

Mike Arvidson and James Newby connected for the Thrashers, who were outshot 42-34 while getting a 37-save performance from Corey Smith.

Generals advance to Chinook final

The Bentley Generals and Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs will battle for the Chinook Hockey League championship.

The Generals downed the visiting Stony Plain Eagles 5-3 Saturday in a third and deciding semifinal game, one night after the Chiefs completed a sweep of the Lloydminster Border Kings with a 4-3 overtime win on the road.

Chris Martini’s goal at 4:25 of the third period was the eventual winner at Bentley, where Darryl LaPlante, Sean Robertson, Donald Morrison and Jared Smyth, with a late insurance marker, also scored for the Generals. The Eagles, who trailed 2-1 after one period and 3-1 after 40 minutes, got goals from Doug Auchenberg, Joel Olszowka and Blair Zahara.

Jordan Alford made 19 saves for Bentley, while Stony Plain goaltender Sean Fields stopped 33 shots.