The U13 Avalanche advanced to the third round this past weekend after defeating the Lloydminster Blazers two games out of three. Friday night, the Avalanche hosted the Blazers and won 5–2. Benny Boy Saddleback was solid in the net, facing 40 shots. The Avalanche posted 50 shots on the Blazers’ goalie, who played really well, too. Jase “The Jackal” Malo with two goals and an assist. Scoring a goal and adding an assist each, Stetson “Shack” Reynolds, Grayson “Big Bang” Koppang and Kael “Hurricane” Large. Also contributing were Jaydn “The Shark” Sakowsky, Obrey “The Big O” John, Gabriel “Dangerous” Dion and Thomas “The Tank” Morris, all with an assist. General Lee Barstad and Rylan “Freight Train” Kryzanowski are doing some fantastic forechecking, creating turnovers, but both are spending some time in the sin bin when they become a little bit too aggressive. On the back end, stay-at-home d-man Christian “Bone 2.0” Yaremkevich was a shut-down expert, not letting any Blazer player get a one-on-one breakaway.

Saturday, the boys slacked off a bit to start the game and were down by four goals early. Waking up in the third period, the Avalanche tried to come back, but it was too little, too late, as the Blazers won 6–4 to tie the series. The Jackal, The Shark, Hurricane Kael and Maximus “To the Max” Laliberte all scored unassisted goals.

Sunday, the Avalanche returned to Lloydminster in a must-win game, pulling off a 7–3 victory, sending them to the next round against Wainwright this coming weekend. The Jackal, Hurricane Kael and To the Max scoring. Defenceman Jay “Jumbo” Large with a couple of helpers.

Our U7 Avalanche team hosted the Vermilion Tigers on Saturday morning. No score recorded in these games, but Motley Krew Mudryk, Axton “Ace” MacKinnon, Bobbie “Hollywood” Holthe and Luke “Cool Hand” Allen each had more than a few goals. Cassie Zhou, Aurora “Ice Queen” Cook and Vada “Darth” Holthe with some assists.

On Sunday morning, right after the gold medal men’s hockey game, the U9 Avalanche team hosted Cold Lake. At this time of year, the U9S play on full ice so players can learn about off-sides, icing, and line changes. Griffin Whittaker, strapping on the heavy goalie equipment, is trying his hand between the pipes, making some big saves. Aksel “Lightning” Aarbo, Casey “Mighty” Younghans, Mudryk “HardKnox” and Rylan “Express” Allen each have more than a few goals. Khalil “Watch Me” Cook, Jaxtyn “Jackhammer” Krankowsky, William “Too Tall” Farrell and Aspyn Paliwoda all found the twine with one or two. Young referees Hudson “The Hammer” Krankowsky and Lenox “All Out” St. Arnault are doing a fantastic job of calling offsides and obvious penalties, helping the youngsters learn the rules of minor hockey.