NE 3 - Balgonie 2 FINAL

Chad Grambo with the early marker.  Both teams are 0/1 on the power play.  Balgonie hold a 14-13 edge in shots after the 1st.  A remarkable 1000 fans in attendance.  Borstmayer and Zary scored in the second to increase the NE lead to 3-0 after 2.  Balgonie got clsoe in the 3rd with a pair of goals but too little, too late.

Best of 3 final tied at 1-1.

99 born Zane Franklin scores 4 in leading Cold Lake to the Bantam AA Championship in Alberta

When we mentioned early in the season that 99 born Zane Franklin was tearing up the ERBHL AA Bantam League.  Many had the attitude of lets wait and see or it is just AA hockey etc...Well, we think Zane has now firmly entrenched his name on the scouting map heading in to his AAA Bantam season next year with his performance at the Alberta Bantam AA Provincials.  Zane capped off a tremendous provincials with a 4 goal game in leading his Cold Lake Freeze - Panthers to a 6-4 win over the Calgary NWCAA Bantam Bruins.  Franklin ended up leading the entire provincials in scoring despite being the youngest player there with 6-7-13 in 5 games.  

During the regular season, Franklin led the ERBHL in scoring with 45-43-88 in 29 games played.  He also led all goal getters in the playoffs with 19 in 11 games and finished 2nd.

Zane Franklin was an AP player with the Lloydminster Heat and looks to join Kale Clague and company next season full-time in the AMBHL.

Pembina Valley are Manitoba Bantam Champions!

Pembina Valley 5 - Winnipeg Warriors 2 Final (Pembina Valley are Manitoba Bantam Champions!)
- Allison 2, Conrad 2, Jeanson for PV.
- Koga and McFadden for WPG.

Colt Conrad, who we expect to be a first rounder was awarded player of the series with 4 goals and 1 assist in the 2 games.




Balgonie 2 - North East 1 Final (Balgonie leads best of 3 1-0)
Halbgewachs and Beaudry for Balgonie.
Grambo for North East

Pembina Valley 6 - Winnipeg Warriors 0

The Pembina Valley Hawks have taken a 1-0 series lead in the best of 3 provincial final against the Winnipeg Warriors tonight.  Pembina Valley had leads of 1-0 and 5-0 by periods.  Leading the way for the Hawks was first round bantam draft candidate Colt Conrad with 2-1-3, D - Lawson Mcdonald who is really starting to make noise late in the season had 1-2-3, Tyler Jeanson with 4 assists and Wade Allison with 1-2-3.  Cole Kehler recorded the shutout.  Pembina Valley can wrap the series up tomorrow in Winnipeg.

The AMBHL will continue with game 3 tomorrow in Calgary while the SBAAHL final between North East and Balgonie will begin in White City tomorrow afternoon.

BWC are 2012 BC Bantam Provincial Champions

The BWC Bruins have defeated Cloverdale this evening 6-5 to capture the 2012 BC Bantam Provincial Championship.  BWC had lost to Cloverdale in the league final as well as at the John Reid Memorial Tournament.  They also lost to the Colts in preliminary play during provincials.  So Matt Barzal and company will held to Stony Plain, AB from April 5 - 8.


So far just two teams are known now for westerns, with BWC winning the B.C. Provincials.  Spruce Grove as host will take part in the tournament as well.  The winner of the SSAC/Calgary Bisons series, which SSAC currently hold a 2-0 advantage in will advance to westerns.  In Saskatchewan, Balgonie/North East will begin their best of 3 series this weekend with a pair of games.  In Manitoba this weekend, the Winnipeg Warriors will play the Pembina Valley Hawks in the provincial final.

Alberta Provincial Rep Schedule
SSAC lead the Calgary Bisons 2-0 in the best of 5 final series.
Game 3 - Saturday, March 24 at 6:45 in Calgary
Game 4 (if needed) - Sunday, March 25 at 1:45 in Calgary
Game 5 (if needed) - Wednesday, March 28 TDB in Edmonton

Saskatchewan Provincial Rep Schedule
Balgonie - North East Wolfpack
Game 1 - Saturday, March 24 at 3:15 in White City
Game 2 - Sunday, March 25 at 6:30 in Melfort
Game 3 - TBD (if needed)

Manitoba Provincial Rep Schedule
Winnipeg Warriors - Pembina Valley Hawks
Game 1 - Friday, March 23 at 7:30 in Winnipeg
Game 2 - Saturday, March 24 at 7:30 in Winnipeg
Game 3 - Sunday, March 25 at 2:30 in Winnipeg
- All games at the Maples Multiplex

Seattle wins Bantam Draft Lottery - Will pick 1st overall

The WHL Bantam Draft Lottery was held this morning and the Seattle Thunderbirds came out of no where to land the first overall selection.  The only teams who had a chance of landing the first overall pick were the Prince Albert Raiders, Prince George Cougars and the Seattle Thunderbirds as the maximum a team could move up was 2 spots.  The Thunderbirds who finished 3rd last had a chance with 4 balls in the drum, compared to the 6 for Prince Albert and 5 for Prince George.  With their ball being drawn which was a 4/21 chance, they will have the ball in their court so to speak as to whom to select.  Of course, it is no secret that Matt Barzal is viewed by everyone, us included, as the top player in the draft.  We will see what they decided to do on May 3!

Seattle Thunderbirds First Round Picks over the years
2011 - C - Ryan Gropp (7th overall)
2010 - D - Jared Hauf (4th overall)
2009 - RW Brandon Troock (12th overall)
2007 - D - Erik Fleming (16th overall)
2008 - D - Connor Sanvido (14th overall)



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The BC Provincials are well underway in several locations across the province.  Here below is a brief summary of what has gone on thus far.  There will be much more in Friday's newsletter as far as re-caps or previews are concerned.

BC Bantam Tier 1
BWC  3-0-0  17-1
Cloverdale  3-0-0  19-3
Kelowna  1-1-1  8-11
Kamloops  1-2-0  9-14
Victoria  0-2-1  6-13
Prince George  0-3-0  6-20


At this point, there have been no real surprises as it looks like BWC and Cloverdale will meet in the final tomorrow night to see who advances to Spruce Grove and the westerns.  The only way that doesn't happen is if BWC loses to Kelowna and Cloverdale and Kelowna is able to defeat Kamloops tonight.

BWC - Campbell River in Final
In the BC Bantam 2 provincials which are being played in the West Kootenay Rossland-Trial region.  There are nine teams taking part from various regions around BC.  In the end, it will be BWC B2 vs. Campbell River in the final.  BWC has been led in the tournament by Kenessary Kylyshbek and Jake Kryski who have scored in 3 of the 4 games played.  For Campbell River, Grady McInnis has been on fire with 10 goals in 4 games, which has included 2 - 5 goal games.  Gavin Rauser has been outstanding as well for them.

Other players who have shown well at the B2 Provincials:
Mission - Brice Sharp, Jacob Kranabetter
Rossland-Trail - Sam Swanson, Cole Gallo and Russ Armour
Cranbrook - Cory Prevost,  Matt Barzily and Trevor Van Steinberg, Jesse Wallace
Westside - Jesse Mills
Ft. St. John - Lane Delfs, Bryson Eklund

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Saskatchewan SBAAHL
The North East Wolfpack will move on to the SBAAHL final by virtue of a 3-2 2OT win over Sask Valley last night.  98 born F - Jordan Borstmayer was the hero.  North East will now move on to play the Balgonie Prairie Storm in the final.  We will have a full preview with some comments etc in the Friday newsletter.  Stay tuned.

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Hockey Manitoba
As mentioned earlier, Pembina Valley have advanced to play the Winnipeg Warriors in the Bantam AAA final.  The winner will move on to Spruce Grove to play in the Western Canada Bantam Hockey Championship in the beginning of April.

Also, Hockey Manitoba held three Bantam showcases throughout the season.  Here is the All-star team as selected by Hockey Manitoba:

F - Meyer Nell - Westman
F-  Michael Wirth - Pembina Valley
F-  Kirk Lycar - Eastman
D-  Lawson Macdonald - Pembina Valley
D-  Hayden Yaremko - Norman
G-  Tyson Verhelst - Brandon

Here is the Rural Provincial AAA All-star team as selected by Hockey Manitoba:

F - Colt Conrad - Pembina Valley
F-  Tyler Jeasnon - Pembina Valley
F-  Jordy Stallard - Brandon
D-  Lawson Macdonald - Pembina Valley
D-  James Shearer - Brandon
G-  Hayden Dola - Interlake


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Finally, the BC Peewee Championships are going on currently in Langley, BC.  The favourites heading in were NSWC, Langley and Kelowna.  To this point, the only undefeated squad is NSWC which included a big 5 -1 win last night over Langley.  The odds on favourite to be ranked #1 in our official '99 born rankings to be released after the bantam - Jordy Bellerive scored 2-2-4, Ethan Dejong had 2 goals and Justin Almeida scored 1-2-3.  Brett Stapley also had 3 assists.  NSWC out-shot Langley 46-18.

Scoring Leaders (through day 2)
1.  Jordy Bellerive  7-5-12  (3gp) - NSWC
2.  Brett Stapley  4-6-10  (3gp) - NSWC
3.  Logan Bronhead  7-1-8 (3gp)  - Coquitlam
4.  David Laurin 3-5-8 (3gp) - Langley
5.  James Malm  3-3-6  (3gp) - Langley
6.  Jonathan Stein  3-2-5  (3gp) - Langley
7.  Justin Almeida  3-2-5  (3gp) - NSWC

Twitter - Updates

The best way to follow WEHP updates over the next few days during BC Provincials is through Twitter.  Both the Peewee and Bantam BC Provincials will be covered on Twitter.

I will have a more in depth update later.