SPORTSHOUND: Wrap Around

Tales from the Timebox for November 5, 2024

The Northeast League’s tiering process is almost complete for the beginning of this season. One more weekend of games will determine the final placements of the teams into their respective tiers, which may still require some teams to move up or down.

U15 Avalanche

Our U15 team was moved up to tier two and played very well on Friday night, despite the score not reflecting it, losing 10-0 against the strong St Paul Canadiens. The Canadiens could possibly be moved up to tier one. On Saturday, the Avs hit the road and travelled to Vegreville, also a tier two team. The result was much closer, with the Avs losing 5-3. Rookie Jesse James Penner scored two goals, and the big power forward Jaxon ‘Magic’ Marcoux scored one. Dewberry product Cade ‘Easy Money’ Elliot, William ‘Billy Bob’ Ballas, Liam ‘Sledgehammer’ Swedgen, and the ever-steady D-Man Tristan ‘Bobcat’ Brousseau provided the assists.

U13 Avalanche

On Sunday afternoon, the U13 Avs played only one game this past weekend against the tier two team from Vermilion. The Tigers took a 6-1 bite out of the Avalanche. Despite the score, the game was very entertaining. ‘General Lee’ Barstad, who was in goal, faced 55 shots and made some spectacular saves, keeping the score from being higher. The Avs were missing one of their solid D-Men, Lennox ‘All Out’ St. Arnault, who was out with an upper body injury. This forced the coaching staff to move ‘Fearless Frank’ Killiam, one of their top power forwards, back to defence. While Fearless did a good job, having him driving to the opposing net is nice.

U11 Avalanche

Our U11 Avalanche team needs to move up to tier three from tier four as soon as possible. They have been winning decisively in tier four in every game so far this season. They travelled to Cold Lake on Friday night and won 15-1. On Sunday, they won 18-2 over Edgerton. Team captain Jace ‘The Jackal’ Malo, Aspyn ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly, and Cohen ‘Big Horn’ Brousseau have been leading the scoring. Contributions also came from ‘Hurricane Kael’ Large, who scored a couple, ‘Jumbo Jay’ Large with a goal and assists, Maximus ‘To the Max’ Laliberte with a couple of goals, and Christian ‘Bones 2.0’ Yaremkevich, who burned the defence to score. Joshu ‘Juice’ Naistus and Blake ‘Rattlesnake’ Fontaine scored their first goals of the year. Raiden ‘Radar’ Savadra and Brady ‘Slim Shady’ Heathcote provided assists. Damian ‘Foghorn’ Ockerman, Jasper ‘Grizzly’ Hymanyk, and Thomas ‘The Tank’ Morris all did a great job forechecking and creating turnovers. ‘Benny Boy’ Saddleback handled the goaltending duties in both games.

U18 Avalanche

Billed as the game of the week, the U18 Avs played at a higher level when the Wainwright Bisons came to town. The Bisons are a legitimate tier one team, and the Avs were ready for battle. It was a fierce game from the first puck drop to the final buzzer, with the penalty box full for most of the game. The final score was a 5-5 tie. Evett ‘Snoop Dog’ Smereka scored two goals, ‘Without a Trace’ Morgan and Gavin ‘Greenlight’ Kadutski each scored a goal and provided an assist. ‘Top Gunner’ Crawford also scored. Steady defence tandem Quinton ‘Rampage’ Quinney and Anton ‘A-Bomb’ Braithwaite each provided two assists. ‘Bo Diddley’ Fontaine and Braylee ‘Free Willy’ Lesyk each added a helper. In goal, Drayden ‘The Wall’ Skakun was solid as a rock.

U9 Avalanche

The U9 Avs played a special split-squad game against Mallaig on Saturday morning. Mallaig has about 20 players at this level, so both coaches decided to split their teams in half, creating four teams. Since they play on half-ice with two-minute shifts, it worked out perfectly, giving the kids extra ice time. The barn and parking lots were packed with parents and grandparents.