Stettler minor hockey teams spent the last weekend playing against a host of teams both at home and on the road, scoring many wins and bringing pride to the community.
Stettler’s atom AA Elks team won the top spot at the home tournament at the Stettler Recreation Center despite losing their opening game.
Atom Elks first played Sylvan Lake and lost 3-1 on Friday night, Jan. 22. The next day they won a resounding 11-1 victory against Lloydminster and earned themselves a place in the A final game on Sunday. The Elks then edged 7-5 over Wetaskiwin to win the championship. Game sheets were not available at the time the Independent went to press.
In the peewee division, Stettler peewee B Storm were on the road last weekend for a tournament in Brooks. They won their first game 10-3 against the host team team but later lost 6-2 to Airdrie and 2-1 Chestermere to play the C final of the event. In the final they faced Airdrie once again and the game ended with a 4-4 tie with the Airdrie team winning the shootout.
Apryl Cassidy, manager of the peewee B storm said “The players played the best hockey they have played this year. we are sitting in #1 spot in our NCMHA division of Tier 5 and if they continue to play like they did over the weekend we are going to see a medal game in playoffs.”
Stettler peewee A Storm were also on the road for a Medicine Hat tournament where they won the B event after overpowering Red Deer in a balanced and close game.
Quade Cassidy, who scored the third goal for the local side was declared the most valuable player of the B final.
Other scorers in the final game were Stefan Dutoit, Quentin Greenwood, and tanner Steinwand.
Top reach the B finals, the peewee A storm passed Chestermere 8-3 and Wainwright 8-6.
Scotiabank Storm, Stettler’s top bantam team played in Medicine Hat on the weekend and won the A side of the tournament. In their first game Friday, they played Edmonton Voyageurs and won 4-2, with Scott Ternes being declared player of the game with 2 points. Saturday morning, Storm played Lethbridge and won 12-1 and player of the game was Logan Davidson. Airdrie was next and the score in that game was 7-2 in favor of the local boys and player of the game was Braden York. The final was on Sunday against the host Medicine Hat Hounds. Stettler won 6-2. Player of the game was Dylan Houston with a hat trick.
Team manager Neil McCallum said the defence was very strong throughout the weekend that limited the shots to on average 15 a game.
“As well the level of play was a bit lower than what we see from our league in tier 1,” he said.
Stettler midget A Storm for their part won comfortably against Clive Blackhawks last Friday in a regular season home game 5-3. Lyle Wooden scored a hat trick Riley Shackburgh and Trevor Wooden adding one each to the scorecard.