Several St. Paul minor hockey players tried out for the Zone 2 U-16 Alberta Cup and in the end one player from St. Paul, Ryley Wozniak earned a spot on the Northeast Flyers in this year’s bantam tournament.
The Alberta Cup took place at the Nicholas Sheran Arena in Lethbridge on the weekend.
The Northeast Flyers started off the tournament slowly losing both their opening games on Thursday 3-2 to the Edmonton South Bruins and 8-2 to the South Senators. The Flyers were able to get out of the loss column but tied the Central Thrashers 5-5.
On Saturday, in their fourth game of the tournament, the Flyers were unable build off any of the momentum gained the night before as they were handed a 7-3 loss at the hands of the Calgary North Stars
On Sunday, teams were paired off based on their record in four games. In the fifth and final game for the Flyers , the team showed glimpses of dominance as they downed team Edmonton North 5-1 to be crowned Division ‘D’ champions.
The Flyers outshot Edmonton North 39-28, as they came out flying in the first outshooting team North 20-9.
Wozniak had a successful tournament scoring two goals and two assists of his own.
Nine players from St. Paul, including Wozniak, tried out for the tournament: Andrew Thomson, Colin Miller, Ryder McConnell, Darrell Stranger, Chase Delve, Riley Leroux, Cody Paziuk, and Bradley Bespalko.
According to Calvin Bespalko, President of St. Paul and District Minor Hockey Association, all players played incredibly well.
“It is quite a big step for players to even step into this arena and see how their skills meet up with the top players in the zone,” said Bespalko.
With hundreds of players playing in Zone 2, 118 players were selected to try-out, and out of that only 20 spots were available. It’s quite an honour to be invited to the camp, let alone selected, he said.
Wozniak said he went into the try-out confident that he could crack the line-up but knew he would still have to work hard.
“I though I had a good chance because I played in the league as a first year and I was one of the better players in the league, but you always have to try because you never know what the coach wants,” said Wozniak.
Wozniak’s hockey career has been played all over Alberta, including in Elk Point, St Paul, Cold Lake, as well as cracking the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers as a first-year bantam player.
He was the only first-year player invited to play for the team and this year in his second season he was named team captain.
“It’s a great experience. Just knowing that the team looks up to you and you have to play a big role, too,” said Wozniak, who admits he’s a vocal captain both on the ice and in the locker room.
While the Rangers (8-21-4) did not have an overly successful year, Wozniak posted an impressive year himself finishing the season with 16 goals and 17 assists in 33 games.
Earlier in January, Wozniak was invited to play in the 2011 bantam all-star in Lethbridge. Ryley’s father John was able to attend the all-star game in Lethbridge and said it was an “amazing” experience for his son.
Referees announced
The referees were also selected for the tournament and Brandon Chudyk of St. Paul was one of 12 selected to represent the ‘North East’ zone.
Up to 18 officials tried out. Officials first attended a zone camp where each official was evaluated and critiqued on their on-ice performance during the tournament.
The tournament has a lengthy list of NHL alumni who have played in previous tournaments including: Zach Boychuk, Kyle Brodziak, Dany Heatley, Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf, Scott Hartnell, Jordin Tootoo, Devin Setoguchi, Andrew Ferrence and Chris Phillips.
