Ex-Clipper goalie signs with a Junior A team

LAC LA BICHE - A Lac La Biche Junior B Clippers player is moving up to his hometown’s Junior A hockey team.

Alex Bell played goalie for the Clippers during the 2019/2020 hockey season and has recently been signed to the La Ronge Ice Wolves in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

The 19-year-old, 5’11” athlete, and member of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, has wanted to play for the Ice Wolves ever since he was young. He started playing hockey at the age of four, and by eight he was a stickboy for the Junior A team in his hometown located in central Saskatchewan. Bell enjoyed filling up water bottles, carrying sticks to the bench, and handing out towels to the players.

“I’m really excited to get the opportunity to play at home in front of fans that I’m all too familiar with and playing a rink that I grew up playing in,” said Bell, explaining that getting signed to the Junior A team all these years later is something he feels extremely grateful for and doesn’t take lightly. “It’s a dream come true, and I just want to represent the town well. I’m a local kid and I kind of want to pave the way for local kids behind me to be able to make the Ice Wolves and to realize that it is possible as a local, and I also want to bring a championship back to La Ronge.”

While he was in the Lac La Biche area, Bell was also involved with youth development. A teenager himself, he would work with young skaters in several levels of the Lac La Biche Minor Hockey Association, helping at practices and encouraging players to improve. Bell not only volunteered as a goalie coach, he also took part in open ice practices for all skaters.

Billeted by a local family for the season, Bell was involved in many community events, and a familiar face not only at the rinks, but in the community. A fan-favourite on the ice, Bell appreciates his time in the Clippers’ jersey and in the community. He says it helped him develop on and off-ice skills.

“I feel like my year in Lac La Biche really helped me to develop, and that’s why I have been able to sign and play Junior A this year because of my time in Lac La Biche last year,” he said.

During his Clippers’ season, Bell shared the net duties with Northeastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League 2020 Goalie of the Year Brady Bilsky. Playing half of the regular season games in net, Bell recorded an impressive 2.2 goals against average and save percentage of .932. Bilsky’s stats were not far behind Bell’s, making the duo an impressive backstop for the Lac La Biche team. Rolling smoothly through the regular season with an impressive 26-5 record, Bell helped to lead the team into the playoffs and the championship round. The COVID pandemic closed the season before the Clippers could finish the final series however.

The year with the Clippers is something Bell will remember.

“It was a great experience,” he said.

Although league play did fire up for a few weeks in October of 2020, pandemic measures shut down all team sports a few weeks later. As the NHL season prepares to go back to the ice, Bell and junior hockey players across Canada are waiting to see what the remainder of a hockey season will look like for them this year.

Bell hopes some of his fortune with the Clippers — running to a league championship — will continue on the other side of the Alberta-Saskatchewan border once play opens back up.

The Ice Wolves haven’t won the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League since their back to back wins in the 2009 and 2010 seasons, around the same time Bell was the team’s stickboy. Years later, his hard work, dedication and skills on the ice have brought him from working behind the bench to being on it.

With files from Rob McKinley