Thursday musings....

Last night in the AMBHL featured a showdown of two of the better teams in the AMBHL South as the Calgary Bisons took on the Calgary Royals. The Bisons in this one were missing one of the top defenceman in western Canada and a pure difference maker for them (Brycen Martin) and it showed, they got out-shot 62-30 but were able to pull off a 5-4 victory behind the solid goaltending of Adin Hill who turned away 58/62 shots. The Bisons held a 5-1 lead with just 14 minutes to go int he 3rd when the Royals were finally able to break through and scored 3 goals to make it close. In fact, at one point, Adin Hill had turn away 47/48 shots. Leading the way for the Royals once again was Reid Duke with 1-2-3 and for the Bisons it was Brayden Point with 2-1-3 and Tanner Macmaster with 1-2-3. Macmaster continues to lead the league in scoring with 17-8-25, while Duke trials but just 2 points with 11-12-23 both players have played 8 games now.

Elsewhere in the AMBHL, it was the Calgary Northstars squeeking by the much improved Okotoks Oilers 3-2. For the Northstars it was Taro Hirose and Kyler Nachigall each with a pair of assists. For Okotoks, it was once again Captain Connor Bleackley figuring in on both goals with 1-1-2. 97 born Mason McCarty picked up a game misconduct after complaining to the ref after his team mate picked up a penalty midway through the third period. Calgary Northstar goalie Derek Mazil played well stopping 30/32 shots in the victory.

Taking a look over at what is going on in Saskatchwan. There was a tournament that took place in Melville this past weekend. The Humboldt Broncos were able to defeat the Prince Albert Pirates in the final 6-2. The tournament scoring leader their was Humboldt forward Reid Gardiner with 10-2-12 in 4 games. Ryan Duret from the runner-up P.A. team had 6-5-11.

Sliding over to Manitoba, the Winnipeg Sharks continue to lead the pack at 4-0 after defeating the Winnipeg Hawks 8-7 in a SO. The leading scorer in the league right now is 6'0 Dallas Starodub with 7-3-10 in 4 games. In fact 4 of the top 5 scorers are from the Hawks.

Finally this morning there is a pretty big tournament taking place in Kelowna this weekend. Many of the top interior teams will be there and a few from the states as well.