Sportshound: Welcome to the Jungle

Tales from the Timebox for November 12, 2024

At one time, they used to call Junior B hockey the Jungle B. Not anymore. Junior B has grown into a fast-paced, skilled league. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about some of the U18 hockey games. These players have the skills and speed to make this an exciting league. However, too many times lately, all you see is players trying to hurt each other, forgetting to play the puck. Some games get out of hand because one team has a huge lead. Other times, who knows what makes them tick!

U18 Avalanche vs Cold Lake Ice

Sunday afternoon at the AGR is a perfect example. The Avalanche U18 hosted the Cold Lake Ice, which resulted in 72 penalty minutes. This was the last game of the tiering process, so maybe when the games are closer and have more meaning, they will play some hockey instead of just butting heads.

Kaleb “Formula-One” Flamand scored two goals. “Without a Trace” Morgan, Brendan “Buzz Saw” Kadutski, and Evett “Snoop Dog” Smereka each scored one goal. Gavin “Greenlight” Kadutski, Madden “Mad Dog” Flamand, Anton “A-Bomb” Braithwaite, and “Top Gunner” Crawford provided the assists. The Avalanche’s goalie, “Goodyear Charlie” Lesyk, faced 29 shots of solid rubber, allowing only one goal to slip through in the last minute. Did someone happen to mention “shutout” and jinx him? The Avalanche won this one 5-1.

U15 Avalanche

The U15 Avalanche have spent the last two weekends playing against Tier 1 teams and performed really well. But let’s be honest. The Avalanche have a great team but are not quite ready for prime-time Tier 1 division. Hopefully, they will be placed in Tier 2 after this weekend.

On Saturday afternoon at home, they lost 5-1 to the Lloydminster Blazers 621 Tier 1 team. Jesse James Penner scored the only goal for the Avalanche on the power play, assisted by Cade “Easy Money” Elliot. The goaltending duties were split between Theo “Long Horn” Quinney and Owen “Ollie the Goalie” Grykuliak.

U13 Avalanche

The U13 Avalanche team played a fantastic game in Edgerton on Sunday, coming back home with an 8-6 victory. They have been playing in Tier 2 for the last few weeks and seem to be competitive.

Hudson “The Bull” Brousseau led the charge with a hat trick and two assists. Big power forward “Fearless Frank” Killiam also scored a hat trick. Hunter “Hardrock” Pankiw scored a goal and made a few trips to the sin bin for his aggressive play. Delaney “Downtown” Swedgan kept her stick on the ice and scored one. I told her it would work, and it did!

The freewheeling defenceman Lennox “All Out” St. Arnault was back in the lineup after missing a few games with a sore wrist. “All Out” was all in, going coast to coast and getting in on the action with an assist. Goalie “Major Tom” Melnyk was solid as a rock between the pipes with 32 shots on goal, helping secure the huge 8-6 win.

U11 Avalanche

The U11 Avalanche split their weekend games, winning on Saturday over Cold Lake 10-3, then losing a close one on Sunday 9-7 in Mallaig.

Thomas “The Tank” Morris parked on the doorstep, scoring his first goal of the year on Saturday. Jase “The Jackal” Malo and Aspyn “Machine Gun” Kelly each scored a hat trick and added a couple of assists on Saturday. Cohen “Big Horn” Brousseau scored a goal and provided two assists. “Hurricane Kael” Large and Maximus “To the Max” Laliberte both scored a goal.

On Sunday, “The Jackal” scored a hat trick and added two assists. “Machine Gun” Kelly scored a goal and provided two assists. Playing against his cousins, “Big Horn” potted two goals and added two assists. “To the Max” also scored a goal in this one. Landon “Lights out” St Arnault and Damian “Foghorn” Ockerman both adding one assist each. Goaltender “Benny Boy” Saddleback did a terrific job in both games.