The Novice players are full of grins and bravado, before hitting the ice, readying to skate hard, score goals and have fun at their weekend novice tournament in St. Paul.
For Glendon Comets coach Brent Sandmeyer, the best part about coaching the seven and eight-year-olds is seeing their growth.
“So many kids have come such a long way . . . We had three or four kids that never played before,” he said, adding those kids started off “wobbly” when they first stepped onto the rink at the beginning of the season. Over time, the kids have become more adept, competing and scoring goals, he said, adding, “It’s just a pleasure to see them having fun and improving.”
Eight teams came down to St. Paul’s rinks for the Canadiens’ novice home tournament on Jan. 23 and 24, including the St. Paul Canadiens 2 and 3 novice teams, the Saddle Lake Warriors, the Elk Point Avalanche, the Glendon Comets, the Cold Lake Freeze, the Vegreville Wranglers and the Bonnyville Pontiacs.
The Cold Lake Freeze, a strong team that made it to the top of pool A, took on the Pontiacs, winners of Pool B, in the finals. The Freeze won the matchup, 4-0.
“It was a good game,” said Anna Pshyk, manager of the Canadiens 3 and one of the tournament coordinators, of the hard-fought effort on both sides of the puck.
For second place, the second-place teams on the A side and B side went toe-to-toe, with Vegreville besting Glendon in that match-up, by a score of 9-3.
“It was a really good tournament – good competition, and a fun competition,” said Sandmeyer, who said the kids are “winning lots of games and having lots of fun” in their season. The team’s Heart & Hustle awards went to Owen Fontaine in the team’s first Saturday game, and to Christopher Feland in the second game.
Pshyk said that each team gave two Heart & Hustle awards to two players that put in a strong effort on Saturday. For the Canadiens 3 team, the awards went to Landyn Kennedy for the first game and Matthew Yakiwchuk in the second.
“I think it just boots their confidence – it’s a total ego boost,” she said.
The Canadiens 3 won one game against Saddle Lake, 7-5, lost a close one to the Glendon Comets, 8-7, and lost to Bonnyville by 8-4.
The Canadiens 2 team took on Elk Point, with Matthew Mistol potting two goals in to the Elk Point’s one goal, to give them a win, but the team took two losses to Vegreville and Cold Lake. Heart and Hustle awards went to Ava Wilson in the first game, and Addison Graling in the second Saturday matchup.
Coach Greg Laramee said he commended the team on its hard work at the tournament and during the season, saying, “The kids are giving their all.”
He said he tries to encourage the kids to enjoy the game of hockey, adding, “I try to tell them to go out there and have fun.”
In that vein, the tournament was a success, in Pshyk’s eyes, who said, “The kids had a blast, that’s what we usually try to go for.”
