The Spruce Grove Saints are a junior A

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

team in the

Alberta Junior Hockey League The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) is an Alberta-based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. There are currently 16 teams in the league. The r ...

(AJHL). They play in

Spruce Grove Spruce Grove is a city that is west of Edmonton, Alberta in Canada. The city is adjacent to the Town of Stony Plain and is surrounded by Parkland County. With a 2021 population of 37,645, Spruce Grove is the ninth-largest city in Alberta ...

, Alberta, Canada, with home games at Grant Fuhr Arena.

History

The Saints' franchise is the only franchise remaining from the inception of the

(AJHL). The franchise began as the

Edmonton Movers The St. Albert Saints were a junior ice hockey franchise based in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, for twenty-seven seasons from 1977 to 2004. Before 1977, the team played in nearby Spruce Grove as the Spruce Grove Mets, and in 2004 the team again mo ...

in 1963 before it merged with the Edmonton Maple Leafs organization to become the Edmonton Mets for the 1972–73 season. It then relocated to

as the Spruce Grove Mets for the 1974–75 season. During its first stint in Spruce Grove, the Mets won the

1975 Centennial Cup The 1975 Centennial Cup is the fifth Tier II Junior "A" 1975 ice hockey National Championship for the Canadian Junior A Hockey League. The Centennial Cup was competed for by the winners of the Western Canadian Champions and the Eastern Canadian C ...

as Canadian Jr. A national champions and two league championships. After three years in Spruce Grove, the franchise relocated again to nearby St. Albert to become the

St. Albert Saints The St. Albert Saints were a junior ice hockey franchise based in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, for twenty-seven seasons from 1977 to 2004. Before 1977, the team played in nearby Spruce Grove as the Spruce Grove Mets, and in 2004 the team again mo ...

in 1977. The franchise captured four AJHL championships during its time in St. Albert. After 27 years in St. Albert, arena issues caused the franchise to return to Spruce Grove as the Spruce Grove Saints in 2004. Since returning to Spruce Grove, the team has won five AJHL playoff championships and five regular season titles, but have not advanced to the National Junior A Championship after failing to advance past the

Doyle Cup The Doyle Cup is an ice hockey trophy won through a best-of-7 series conducted annually by the Canadian Junior Hockey League to determine the Pacific region berth in the Centennial Cup, the national Junior A championship. From 1971 to 2021, the ...

Western Canada Cup The Western Canada Cup (WCC); was the Junior 'A' ice hockey championship for western Canada from 2013 to 2017. The annual five-team event consisted of the host team and the champions from the four western leagues ( Alberta Junior Hockey League, B ...

qualifiers. Over 50 former Saints' players have gone on to play in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

, including

Mark Messier Mark John Douglas Messier (; born January 18, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre of the National Hockey League (NHL). His playing career in the NHL lasted 25 years ( 1979–2004) with the Edmonton Oilers and New York Rang ...

Stu Barnes Stuart Douglas Barnes (born December 25, 1970) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. He played 16 seasons at centre in the NHL with the Winnipeg Jets, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, and Dallas Stars. He c ...

, Mike Comrie, and Steven Reinprecht.

Season-by-season record

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T/OTL = Ties/Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against''

Western Canada Cup

The

was a postseason tournament between the playoff champions of the

(AJHL),

British Columbia Hockey League The British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) is a Junior A ice hockey league from British Columbia under Hockey Canada and BC Hockey. Founded in Vernon in 1961, the BCHL now includes 18 teams. From 1993 to 2021, the league was a member of the Ca ...

(BCHL),

Manitoba Junior Hockey League The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Manitoba and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). The MJHL consists of thirteen teams all based ...

(MJHL),

Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. Open to North American-born players 20 years ...

(SJHL), and a previously selected host team from one of the leagues. It ran from 2013 to 2017 with the top two teams qualifying for the

Royal Bank Cup Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...

Junior A national championship tournament. It replaced the

, which had been the qualifier for the AJHL and BCHL champions, and the ANAVET Cup, which had been the qualifier for the MJHL and SJHL champions. The qualifying system reverted the Doyle and ANAVET Cups in 2018. The tournament began with round-robin play between the five team followed by the top two teams playing in championship game and the third and fourth place teams playing in a semifinal game. The loser of the championship game then faced the winner of the semifinal game for the runner-up qualifier. The winner of the championship and the runner-up game advanced to the

External links

Spruce Grove Saints websiteAlberta Junior Hockey League website
{{Alberta Sports Alberta Junior Hockey League teams Ice hockey teams in Alberta Ice hockey clubs established in 2004 Spruce Grove

History

Season-by-season record

Western Canada Cup

See also

External links