The Kelowna bantam Rockets have advanced to the final in the Dallas Saunders Memorial Bantam AAA Tournament taking place in Abbotsford, B.C. The Rockets went 1-1-1 in their pool with a 3-1 win over the Calgary Bronks on Friday and a 5-5 tie vs. Langley in the tournaments opening game. Kelowna was then able to upset the host Abbotsford Hawks 4-3 in the quarters and continued that momentum with a thrilling 6-5 OT win over Juan de fuca in the semi's. The Rockets will take on a St. Albert team who is on fire in the tournament, going 3-0-0, while outscoring their oppenants 23-5. They defeated Chilliwack 7-1, Chilliwack 10-1 and Seafair 6-3. In the quarters, they beat POE 4-2 and then skated by the Calgary Bisons 6-3 in the semi's. Should be an interesting matchup.
We'll have some post tournament updates either later tonight or tomorrow morning.
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Moving over to some league play highlights, the Notre Dame bantam Hounds were back in action in their AA league after losing in OT to Kamloops in the Medicine Hat tournament final. The beat or shall I say the beat-down continues as they defeated a pretty decent Regina Senators AA team 11-3. For what its worth, Joey Ratelle had 5 points and Manitoba born Tyler Ham had 4 points in the win. Blake Penner also had a couple points and now has 18-11-29 in just 8 league games to lead the league.
It will be a breathe of fresh air next year when the Saskatchewan bantam leagues are all re-structured in to a North/South type league that will make it AAA caliber. Cause right now the AA teams really don't have much of a chance at westerns. Prince Albert might have the best shot in a while this year due to having Miles Warkentine coming over from Melfort and Yaremchuk coming in from Tisdale. Not to mention some very strong 97's to go with Duret, Harris.
In other action of note, Rhett Gardner scored 4 goals in a Moose Jaw 6-2 win last week. Gardner is a sure fire top prospect who has WHL written all over him. Look for him to continue to excel.
Last night in the Centre Four Hockey League, the Prince Albert Pirates skated by the Melfort Mustangs 8-6. Rylan Freed, who we have as a 3-4 round pick scored 5 goals for Melfort. Ryan Duret continues his 5 point per game pace in that league with 3 goals and 2 assists. He now has 18-23-41 in 9 games played! Lance Yaremchuk had 3 goals and 1 assist. Lance now has 13-6-19 in just 6 games. Freed now has 13 goals in 8 games which is 8 more than anyone else on his team.
Thats all for now.
17 comments:
How did St. Albert shut down Point and Mcmaster?
Better question; how did JDF beat the Bisons?
Bisons are overrated! 1 line and no defense. If you watched the St Albert game it was easy to see.
agreed, totally overrated, only point, macmaster, and martin. Poor goaltending and defence overall
who scored for the bisons vs St Albert? Who was in net? How was martin on the back end?
St.Albert is the real deal my friends.They will be team to beat in Alberta!
Who won the Abby tournament?
st. albert 10 kelowna 2. nice final. thanks abby
The final was Bisons St Albert 6-3Semi
The Bisons are a Two Forward team even Martin on the back end was average tried to do too much.You hold that line to 3 goals you win. Goaltending was average as well.Bisons did play tourney with out there coaches used aa bantam guys other coaches play top players much more.
I would have agreed with that sentiment until the Bisons lost to Juan de Fuca.
Ya.JDF is not a legit T1 team.What happened ????
Did u notice the way Seafair played,rolled 3 lines no pp line.Shaky goaltending and D.need to have top kids out to win ,what a waste.Very disapointing,will not be very good if this continues.
I know it doesn't get much ink but apperently ther are some good hockey players on the island , Jdf Tier 2 association as well
How do any upsets happen one team mails it in the other team wants it and you have a coin toss.Coin toss went to the weaker but hungrier team for Jdf that will be a huge moment for the Bison the tourney was over after St Albert. Still no excuse for the Bisons but hard to get up for that one Im guessing. Congrats to St Albert
From what I can see, St. Albert has no super stars to have to depend on. They're a lunch box team and come to 'work' every shift. They use all 3 lines and if you show a crack they will take they game to you and score from anywhere. Like all the teams, they have weak spots in the line-up but everyone pitches in defensively. The Edmonton league plays a tough, physical game so be prepared for a battle if you take on any of their top teams.
Don't think the gaps between teams are as big as some people think.
I was there and saw for myself super stars or not, the St.Albert Sabres are the real deal. This team never stops working until the final buzzer. Key word.....TEAM!
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