The third annual Timbits Future All-Star Game hit the ice at Clancy Richard Arena on Friday night, showcasing the town’s tiniest hockey talent in front of hundreds of screaming fans.
“It was an awesome game out there. The kids played hard, it went both ways with lots of action. It was an awesome game,” said White Team Coach Gilles Jean. “It was just awesome, there was such a great energy out there. Even the kids on the bench were just rallying, every shift, one to the next they just kept on carrying the energy.”
The game started off at a torrid pace, and while both Team Red and Team White saw the lead on numerous occasions, the intense end-to-end matchup concluded in a 9-9 tie.
“I was happy it turned out a tie because everybody was smiling. I have one rule on my team, and that’s everybody have fun,” said Jean. “After that, we just let the chips fall where they are.”
Following the game, all players were presented with the Timbits Stanley Cup, a miniature representation of hockey’s holy grail. White Team’s Ukiah Simons said his favorite part of the night was that it ended in a tie, so that nobody had to lose and everyone got to lift the cup together.
“It was heavy, but it was very fun,” he said of the cup, adding his favorite position to play is defence.
“You can go and score goals, or you can stop the shots.”
Team Red’s Kaysen Young scored a fancy goal in the game, and on a midget goaltender to boot, threading the puck between his pads on the backhand to bring life to the crowd at Clancy Richard Arena.
“I love playing centre,” he said, adding he enjoys taking face offs and scoring goals just like his favorite player, Sidney Crosby. “He’s the bestest player in the world.”
Wade Howse, who potted three goals in the game, said his favourite part of the night was scoring in front of the crowd. Howse added that he plays all positions, but his favorite is defence because “you get to stand on the blue line.”
Howse’s teammate Toby Hughes said he also likes playing defense more than any other position on the ice.
“You get to stop the puck from going into your side,” said Hughes, adding his favourite part about playing with his team, is “winning.”
Xavier Jean of Team White said his team did a really good job on the ice, and that this was his favourite of all three Timbits Future All-Star Games he has played in because midgets played in goal all night. While midgets have been involved in past Timbits Future All-Star Games, this year they were more involved than ever. On top of playing goal for the whole game, the group of departing players put on a special three-on-three game during intermission.
“We had 13 midgets this year,” said Leroux. “So we wanted to try to do something a little bit different with a bigger group like that.”
Jean, who coached in his third Timbits Future All-Star Game on Friday night, said every year the event keeps getting bigger and better.
“The crowd’s been getting bigger, I noticed that too, and it’s really great to see the midgets out here, it just ties everything together,” he said. “It’s starting to pick up. The first year was kind of to feel it out and see how it went, and it really turned out well. So every year we’ve just been adding, and it’s been getting better every year.”
