Oleksyn adjusting to Midget hockey

A player in western Canada who will be closely watched this season is Braden Oleksyn. Oleksyn, a 14 year old power forward in the making from Saskatoon has decided to take his talents to the extremely competitive smaaahl or the Saskatchewan midget AAA league. Currently, Oleksyn is taking part in his first training camp and is adjusting to the advanced style of play, "I've had a very good camp so far, the biggest difference is the speed, its a lot faster and you really have to keep your head up, move the puck quick and keep your feet moving."

Oleksyn says he will just take it one step at a time in terms of adjusting to the regular season play when all eyes will be on the talented 14 year old. It was just last season that another 14 year old made the jump to midget hockey and ended up going first overall, his name was Alex Forsberg. Forsberg was very successful in making the jump to midget hockey as an underaged player, placing in the top 5 in final scoring. Braden was quick to point out that they are very different, "me and alex are two totally different players so I will just have to go out there play my game and show them what I bring to the table." Of course it is inevitable that the comparison's will occur in that Alex was such a high draft pick, it will be natural to compare the two players this year in that regard. "well every kid obviously wants to go high, so yes you can maybe say that's one of my goals, but if not it doesnt matter when you go its what you make of it."

Currently, Oleksyn is our top rated prospect heading in to the 10-11 season. Please refer to the newsletter for future interviews, rankings and spotlights now and throughout the entire hockey season. The next newsletter is due out this Friday, September 3, 2010.

Prince Albert Pirates early favorites?

Several training camps are starting to open across Western Canada this week in the bantam age group. As we draw closer to the beginning of the bantam season, we'll begin to look at some of the teams to watch across Western Canada for the 2010-2011 hockey season.

Today, I'll take a look at one of the early favorites to represent Saskatchewan at the Western Canadian Bantam Hockey Championships. The Prince Albert Venice House Pirates look to be the favorites to come out of the Centre Four Hockey League this season. They return one of the most talented forwards in all of Saskatchewan in Ryan Duret, Duret was 2nd in team scoring last season with 22-43-65 in 22 games as a 1st year bantam. This summer he played on the 96 Jr. Blades, one of the top spring/summer teams in western Canada, again Duret was one of the leaders with 11-9-20 in just 12 games which included the Vancouver Challenge Cup and the Winnipeg Subway Classic. Although Duret looks to be the catalyst for offensive production, there are others who should make a huge impact, including Lance Yaremchuk who is making the move from Tisdale, Yaremchuk led the Tisdale bantam Ramblers in scoring last year with 30 points. Also, there is a pair of 1997 born talents making the jump from pee wee hockey, Matthew Campese and Reed Gunville who could score 60+ points. Both playes have been lighting up every level of hockey in recent years and last year in pee wee hockey they were 1-2 in league scoring with Gunville picking up 34-55-89 and Campese 44-43-87. On defence, the Pirates will be led by a pair of 2nd year stars, Bryton Sayers and Jordan Harris. Sayers had a very successful spring/summer season with the Jr. Blades, in fact, he averaged near a point per game in the two major spring tournaments. Jordan Harris, coming off a great 1st year bantam season, carried that through to this summer with the Saskatchewan Hustlin' Huskies. Complementing the Pirates on defence will be first year star Lochlan Morrison. Morrison was a stand out in pee wee last year with 9-25-34, while racking up 104 pims.

Look for the the Pirates to improve on what was a successful 16-4-4 2009-2010 season and over take Warman for first place in 2010-2011.

Josh Uhrich commits to Notre Dame

Josh Uhrich will be joining fellow western Canadian players Duperreault, Cardiff, Fleury and Barrette in Notre Dame in the fall. Uhrich says it was his own personal decision to attend the storied program, explaining, "its always been a dream for me to play there. I think i'll improve with a good coach like kyle, and I'd like to play bantam AAA." Josh feels this will give him the best opportunity moving forward saying, "I am hoping to make that team, and have a good hance to get good exposure to whl teams so I could get drafted this year. He also feels that Notre Dame will make him a better player, mature quicker due to its well rounded program.

BC Bantam AAA Provincials Awarded

The BC Bantam AAA Provincials were originally to be hosted by a team in the Interior of the province. However, today it was announced that the Abbotsford Hawks will be hosting the provincials.

Abbotsford is favored, atleast on paper, to have one of the best bantam teams in the province at this point with the likes of Bamford, Virtanen, Painchaud, Skapski, Baron and several top first year players led by star forwards Jordan Kawaguchi, Nick Ponak and Austin Wellsby. Noah Jullsen on the back end should make an immediate impact as well for the Hawks.

Western Elite Prospects Camp Video Highlights!

Some of the top western Canadian kids were in Edmonton recently to take part in the camp run by Al Shaw. Top players such as Jake Virtanen, Riley Simpson, Ben Verrall and Keenan Shaw took part as top 96's. Enjoy!

GSHL announces tryout skaters and goalies

GSHL Bantam Evaluation Times

Saturday September 11th, 2010
9:00am - 11:00am - Jemini

1 Kyle Matlock 21 Joel Schwark
2 Ryan Melnyk 22 Devon Prebushewski
3 Keenan Sjodin 23 Vukie Mpofu
4 Tye Antoniuk 24 Cody Johnson
5 Cale Ochitwa 25 Kristian Bell
6 Wyatt Grant 26 Daylon Ball
7 Brynn Chatterson 27 Ajdin Deumic
8 Brad Bigsby 28 Matthew Armstrong
9 Corbin Schmidt 29 Brett Weiman
10 Alexander Kost 30 Austin Andrusiak
11 Colton Mireau 31 Wyatt Tyndall
12 Benjamin Verrall 32 Jaiden Focht
13 Jamison Derksen 33 Brody Dopeker
14 Kolten Olynek 34 Aiden Koehler
15 Eric Nielsen 35 Kaleb Dahlgren
16 Wyatt Schlosser 36 Jadon Manske
17 Collin Shirley 37 Ross Hnidy
18 Scott Caron 38 Jesse Shynkaruk
19 Taylor Headrick 39 Mackenzie Medernach
20 Zachary Deck 40 Curtis Roach
Saturday September 11th, 2010
11:30am - 1:30pm - Jemini
41 Adam Santoro 61 Cameron Dube
42 Alaric Besharah 62 Tanner Secord
43 Mitchell Lyons 63 Jaden Baier
44 Cody Young 64 Hunter Rowlett
45 Graham Gove 65 Connor Swystun
46 Mitchell Hayes 66 Tyler Sukkau
47 Erick Climenhaga 67 Wyatt Sloboshan
48 Quinn Sully 68 Matthew Delorme
49 Chris Reinheimer 69 Rylan Laroque
50 Darien Kidd 70 David Sheppard
51 Wyatt Shew 71 Brett Doepker
52 Austin Pryhitka 72 Mike Melnyk
53 Chase Mossman 73 Colby Aldorfer
54 Eric Thakurdeen 74 Kody White
55 Connor Hobbs 75 Mitchell Boutin
56 Quinn Androsoff 76 Ian Grimard
57 Nicholas Keenan 77 Cameron Hebig
58 Brayden Polonich 78 Rod Southam
59 Josh King 79 Jimmy Lambert
60 Tyson Leard 80 Jordan Wells

Saturday September 11th, 2010
2:00pm - 4:00pm - Jemini 81 Colman Pete 101 Reegan McCaw
82 Austin Macdonald 102 Payton Ostrom
83 Jack Okanee 103 Riley Carriere
84 Sheldon Beierle 104 Dawson Leedahl
85 Adam Sembalerus 105 Cole Keester
86 Paige Michalenko 106 Tyler Hermann
87 Tyler Olson 107 Rourke Chartier
88 Kristian St.Onge 108 Bobby Ehman
89 Kade Kehoe 109 Nathaniel Wingerak
90 Andrew Sproule 110 Jay Yausie
91 Ashton Wake 111 Brayden Hryniuk
92 Kyle Harrison 112 Landon Meena
93 Trey Bouvier 113 Brendan Huel
94 Adam Beres 114 Tom Fast

95 Scott Bueckert 115 Tate Olson
96 Michael Korol 116 Mitchell Erickson
97 Caylen Chartier 117 Brendan Rooney
98 Brett Wenzel 118 Kaeln McLaren
99 Joshua Bly 119 CJ Gavlas
100 Logan Richardson 120 Taron Morrison

Saturday September 11th, 2010
4:30pm - 6:30pm - Jemini
121 Trevor Mann 141 Kai Matisz
122 Aidan Splichen 142 Jordan Stene
123 Erik Fleischhacker 143 Kyle Lucas
124 Stephen Tremblay 144 Mike Schwaretzenberger
125 Nathan Murray 145 Dustin Perrilat
126 Michael Tremblay 145 Justin Kapeluck
127 Ethan Wingerak
128 Quinn Herman
129 Nathaniel Conway
130 Ethan Constant
131 Abby Constant-Bercier
132 Logan Loopkey
133 Lane Pederson
134 Kobe Kindrachuk
135 Matthew Lukash
136 Dylan Gould
137 Tyler Pickett
138 Spencer Murphy
139 Reed Murphy
140 Taylor Awrey

GSHL Bantam Goalies Evaluation Times

Sunday September 12th, 2010
9:00am - 11:00am - Jemini
1 Brayden Coghill
2 Rylan Parenteau
3 Braydon Hartley
4 Thomas Bethune
5 Evan Weninger
6 Dyson Panko
7 Michael Bethel
8 Jakub Rogowski
9 Brock Hamm
10 Brett Pongracz


Sunday September 12th, 2010
11:20am - 1:20pm - Jemini
11 Mitchell Canaday
12 Lane Michasiw
13 Colton Klassen
14 Rylan Toth
15 David Thiel
16 Austin Swystun
17 Cole Boser
18 Keith Frank
19 Garrett Akre
20 Parker Bessel


Sunday September 12th, 2010
1:40pm - 3:40pm - Jemini
21 Garrison Martynes
22 Tyler Busch
23 Kyle Gaudet
24 Cameron Taylor
25 Morgan Loeffler
26 Carson Kostuik
27 Tyson Camrud
28 Tanner Prychak
29 Braedan Dahl

Brayden Point lights up International Hockey Tournament

Several young Canadian hockey players were over seas in the Czech Republic to take part in the Czech Challenge Cup, featuring teams and players from age groups 94-99. Brayden Point and his Canada Cowboys squad went undeafeted in the round robin portion of play posting a 5-0-1 record while out scoring their opposition 39-21. The young Cowboys faced teams from Slovakia, Czech Republic and Austria and were joined by other fellow Canadian teams as well.

Brayden Point was dynamic in the tourament finishing with 16 goals and 5 assists in just 6 games. His 16 goals were 7 more than any other player in the tournament and his 21 points placed him 1st in scoring and 5 more points than Slovakian star defenceman Branislav Zwick.

Western Elite Hockey Camp Report

In depth report of the Western Elite Hockey camp that took place last week. Quite a few players really stood out and cemented themselves as future stars in major junior or junior A down the road. Here is a brief look at a couple players who impressed, the rest will be in the newsletter.

Jake Virtanen:

At 5’8” and 140Lbs, Jake was one of the quickest 96s at the camp. He has incredible 2step speed and gave all of the defence headaches when driving wide. He has a very quick release to go with his hard and accurate shot. In Jake you will find the perfect combination of speed size and skill, but the icing on the cake is his physical side. When carrying the puck, on the fore-check or in his defensive zone Virtanen was willing to throw his weight around and do so effectively against some of the best bantam defensemen in the west. If his development continues at current rate, Virtanen can potentially be a top 15 pick in the 2011 draft and a future 70 point man in major junior.

Jared Steinbach:

Sleeper of the camp. To most people’s eye Steinbach does nothing flashy. He doesn’t have the hardest shot, isn’t going to leave you breathless with high-light reel dangles. To those that see and understand the little things that need to happen for a player to be successful, Steinbach is a “diamond in the rough”. His sense of timing is incredible, his lateral movement is silk-like and he sees the ice on a different level than his peers. It is rumoured that Jared is moving from Whitehorse to Alberta this summer to play in the AMBHL. If the coach that is lucky enough to get him knows what he has and develops his unique gifts, look for Steinbach to be a solid WHLer in just a few years.

For the rest of the camp review, please refer to the newsletter.

Regina Prospects Camp All-Star Team

Since people have been asking for some information on the Regina prospects camp that took place just a bit back, I've decided to include the all-star team selected by a panel of scouts in attendance. As many of you know, scouts have to keep their anaminity so no names will be used as reference.

Defensemen on this list skated well and played physical. All had decent skills and hockey smarts.
The forwards were a mixed bag. A couple of bigger guys like Kitt and Gardner who used there size and skating. As well, you had guys like Vanstone, Schuette and Penner who played hard and were dominant most shifts. Tough camp for goalies as this was really just river hockey but the 3 below had a good game or two.



Top 3 goalies
Jordan Papirny
Grant Naherniak
Harrison Whitlock

Top 6 d-men
Josh Thrower
Mitch Meek
Hayden Fleury
Jordan Thomson
Aaron Irving
Brett Pollock

Top 10 forwards
Rhett Gardner
Josh Uhrich
Tim Vanstone
Sebastien Barrette
Blake Penner
Logan Franz
Brett Kitt
Chase Lang
Lance Yaremchuk
Jayce Hawryluk
Brodie Schuette

Notre Dame Bantams loading up for fall

The Notre Dame bantam Hounds are coming off a fabulous season in 09-10 sporting a 26-0-0 record, scoring 310 goals while allowing just 38 in the SSBHL. That translates to a 12-1 win on average. From that team, the Hounds had a slough of players drafted in the WHL bantam draft including, scoring champ Corey Millette, Drydon Hunt, first round talent defenceman Tyler King and others. Tough shoes to fill but the recruitment process has already begun for the Hounds for 2010-2011.


The Hounds will turn their sites to the likes of Ben Duperreault, Jacob Cardiff and Sebastien Barrette for scoring and Camrose, Alberta star Haydn Fleury on defence. Duperreault, put up solid numbers with Balgonie last year with 26-18-44, while his team mate Jacob Cardiff had 19 goals and 36 points. Both will be relied upon to better those numbers as second year bantams and be near the top of the scoring parade. Sebastien Barrette, fresh off a fantastic Regina prospects camp will also add very good scoring depth up front. The Hounds are also hopeful that West Central star Josh Uhrich can be convinced to take his talents to Notre Dame in the fall. The defence will receive a gift from Camrose in Haydn Fleury. Fleury at this point is viewed as one of the better defenceman for the bantam draft and should be one of the leaders of the Hounds.

As more committments become official, we will update you right here.

August 5, 2010 Newsletter now ready

Once again, as will be the case during the summer, the newsletter is available before the weekend. During the fall, it will return to every second Monday as schedules become more of a normal variety.

There are many changes to the newsletter in terms of ranking this time around. I had a chance to speak with several of my scouts and we were able to agree and adjust the rankings to a suitable level for all of us involved. Several new additions and major adjustments.

This edition once again has the Top 100 for 96 born, Top 60 for 97 born. Also, I had a chance to speak with Taylor Fisher who is relatively unknown by most but we like him as a first round talent, also interviewed was 1997 born top prospects; Dylan Stewart from Edmonton and Regan Nagy from Weyburn. I also had a chance to speak with Josh Uhrich who just came off of a tremendous hockey camp in Regina.

And we break down a preview on how the AMBHL North Division may shake down this season.

Western Prospects Showcase

The Western Prospects Showcase has wrapped up in Regina. The Showcase featured a majority of Saskatchewan kids of more than half with the rest from the other three western provinces. Many of the top kids from BC, Alberta were absent from the showcase but there were still a number of top prospects showing their stuff. After the all the skills testing and scrimages, the scouts and whl team representatives selected a Top 40 list of players who were standouts during the showcase.

Leading the way were Josh Uhrich who won 3 player of the game honors as well as Josh Thrower who won two player of the game honors, both players were standouts as was Brodie Schutte. In goal, Adin Hill, Jordan Papirny and Harrison Whitlock were standouts. Forwards making an inpact were Jordan Thomson who was the best forward in our opinion at the camp, Jayce Hawryluk and Kord Pankewicz also stood out.

For more, please see the August 23, 2010 newsletter for a complete re-cap of the camp.