When the Prince Albert Northern Bears trek to Okotoks, Alberta in their quest for the Esso Cup on Saturday, they will have a large gathering to send them off. A number of Prince Albert minor hockey teams as well as anyone wanting to give the team one final send off of the season will gather outside of the Art Hauser Centre moments before the team bus takes off at 10 a.m.. It’s something head coach Steve Young thinks is great for the team.

“I think it will be really good for the girls,” Young said. “It’s going to be an exciting time for them. It’s been a long hockey season, we’re already near the end of May. I think something like that for them will be really good.”

The Bears haven’t played since March 9 when they were eliminated from the playoffs by the Saskatoon Stars. That obviously presents the challenge of game rust heading into the tournament, although the team has spent the better part of two months on the ice continuing to practice. They wrapped up their final practice session on Thursday night, and Young says there are a bit of mixed emotions when it comes to the team slowly wrapping their season up.

“The girls were maybe a little sad that this was their last practice, but at the same time, the days that they have been waiting for are finally coming up,” he explained. “They know that it’s just around the corner.”

Four members of the Bears have recently got back into the pace of a regular game. Sasha Malenfant, Bree Purcell, Kelsey Ledoux, and Jacquelyne Chief are over in Membertou, Nova Scotia competing in the National Aboriginal Hockey Championship. While the four are enjoying their time competing with Team Sask., it’s left a bit of a hole in Prince Albert’s depth chart at practice, and it leaves a lot of travelling for them when they join the team in Alberta. That’s something Young thinks has both its upsides and downsides.

“I think it’s a mixture of both. I think for us not playing games for so long, it’s going to be good for those girls that way. Obviously being that far away and the travel that they’re going to have to go through, they’re really going to have to do the right things. At the same time, you never want to say no to an opportunity, and that was an opportunity for them. It’s what we’ve been dealt, and that’s what we’ll work with.”

For the rest of the team, it might take the course of a game for them to get their legs back under them in a fast paced game. With league champions coming from all across Canada, the team knows it won’t be easy, but they are hoping that their efforts in practice will translate onto the ice.

“We’ve had a gameplan for the team three weeks before Easter and three weeks after,” Young explained. “That worked good and our practices were good. We worked on all types of things, and they all worked hard. They were all ready and prepared to work hard, and we’re hoping that carries us into the cup.

“We’re not looking to just dip our toe in and see what the water is like. We have to jump right in as a hockey club and go hard right away. It’s a short tournament, and we have to show our best right off the bat. One day at a time is a cliché, but I think that’s the important way to approach it, especially with the way that we’re coming into this tournament.”

The way the team is coming into the tournament, to Young’s point, presents a difficult challenge for the Bears. With teams like the Notre Dame Hounds, who recently won the Western Regional just a couple of weeks ago still in relatively game day form, Prince Albert will have to do their best to match the intensity.

“Our story is definitely going to be different,” Young said. “When you get that opportunity to go through your league and into another province and come out a winner, you’ve played a lot of hockey and played in a lot of different situations. These other teams have that, but I think at the same time we have to be a team that’s learned from our experiences all year, especially our short playoff run. We have to take the most positives into the tournament. We’ve been dealt this hand, and we have to make it work.”

The Bears kick off the Esso Cup in the first game of the tournament on Monday morning against the Ontario region champion Durham West Lightning.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

The second home game of the season for the Prince Albert Predators was entertaining right down to the final buzzer.

Another packed crowd saw the Predators and Saskatoon Swat play to an 11-11 tie on Tuesday night, keeping the Prince Albert squad undefeated on the season.

“It was pretty similar to our first home game because we gave up the lead,” head coach Tyson Fetch said. “We actually had a pretty substantial lead against Saskatoon but they came back. They have a really strong team with some really talented players. I think all in all it was another good game.”

The Predators found themselves trailing 5-4 after the first period, thanks to Swat player Stepan Friedl scoring the first four goals of the game for Saskatoon. Friedl also picked up an assist on Saskatoon’s fifth goal of the period which was scored by Nolan Fetch. Tyson Perreault scored a pair of first period goals for the Predators, while Dillan Cochrane and Liam Netmaker added a goal each in the first.

Prince Albert won the second period, taking a 9-8 lead into the first period. Cochrane added two more goals for the hat trick, while Perreault also scored his third goal of the game in the middle frame. Brayden Reiger and Koltin Fyrk rounded out the second period scoring for the Predators. Friedl scored his fifth goal of the contest in the second period for the Swat, while Carter Hansen and Haaken Steen also scored for Saskatoon.

The Swat tied things up at 9-9 early in the third period, as Friedl tallied his sixth goal of the game to bring it back to a deadlock. Hayden Ulriksen scored back to back goals for Prince Albert just under three minutes apart to give them an 11-9 lead, but Joshua Weston and Matous Tisler scored 23 second apart to tie things back up at 11-11. With no goals scored in the final seven minutes of the game and no overtime for regular season games, the Predators and Swat were left without a winner in the 11-11 tie.

“We didn’t know what to expect from Saskatoon,” Fetch said. “Looking at their record, they had done fairly well, and I think it was a very good game. The score dictated that in the end, because I think both teams deserved some points in that game.

“We both traded some posts that could have maybe changed the outcome. We pulled our goalie with 27 seconds left and brought the ball down the floor, and we hit the post. Right there, that’s two inches away from winning the game. I think we could have gotten the win, but Saskatoon could have beat us as well. It’s somewhat disappointed, but it’s a learning experience.”

That learning experience is so valuable this early into the season given how young this Predator’s team is. Fetch says that it’s nice to have games like these for his players to build from, and take lessons that they can learn for the rest of the season.

“We’re going to make mistakes, because they don’t know the game that well at this level,” he explained. “For the most part we’re starting to figure things out. We’re strong on defense and we’re learning how to help each other out. There’s going to be growing pains, but our points are getting spread out among our players, which is a really good sign to see moving forward.”

The Predators started the 2022 season with a pair of road games, before hosting their home opener over the weekend. Now with two home games under their belt, Fetch says the support from the home crowd has been amazing, and it’s something he hopes will continue for the rest of the year.

“It’s been great. The first game we had more than 500 people in the building, and even in our last game we had close to 400 people. It’s good to have the home crowd there, and we’re giving them something to cheer about. The game of lacrosse is fast and it’s exciting. There’s always entertainment, there’s prizes for the kids. It brings families out, and if we can keep them happy and cheering, then there is no team that is going to beat us at our home rink.”

The Predators are back in action on Sunday afternoon at the Kinsmen Arena against the Regina Barracuda. Opening faceoff is at 1 p.m.

After receiving the honour in 2020 as a builder, Prince Albert’s Howard Gange was officially inducted into the Sask. Volleyball Hall of Fame last weekend.

“I was quite flattered by the designation,” Gange said. “It was almost a delayed reaction since the original induction was supposed to happen in 2020. When we eventually got around to doing it last weekend, it was almost anti-climactic. But it was still very enjoyable.”

Howard has been involved in athletics all his life and has left a big footprint on the Volleyball world in Prince Albert. While attending the University of Saskatchewan, he played Huskie Football and was a member of the Men’s Athletic Board. His coaching career started when he began teaching, including football, basketball and curling. He coached high school football for 17 years and then turned to coaching girls’ volleyball.

The game had changed since he played, with nine players on the court, so he needed a mentor coach and chose Mark Tennant. He started attending Tennant’s coaches’ clinics and enrolled his players in his annual spikers’ and setters’ camps.

“After realizing where the state of the game was in Prince Albert, I realized that the larger centres had club volleyball going as well, not just the school programs,” Gange said. “To try to be competitive, I put together a club team in 1982. As you do more and more skill development, that’s when you see the level of play improve.”

The first year his team went to provincials, only to learn that the game was played much differently at that level. Returning to Prince Albert, he set out with the help of some Junior High coaches, to form a volleyball club. The P.A. Optimist Club agreed to sponsor the new club and the P.A. Optimist Toppers club was formed in 1982, with two teams, a Bantam and a Midget team. Howard coached and organized the Toppers for 12 years having as many as 12 teams in the three divisions per year.

With help from other local coaches, the Toppers achieved a fair amount of success, winning multiple provincial age class championships. While this was very gratifying, Howard was realizing that the number and quality of players coming to his high school team was much improved. His high school team represented P.A. in SHSAA provincials in 11 of 12 years he coached, appearing in 4 provincial finals and winning two, 1986 and 1989. Howard retired from teaching and coaching in 1994 but the Toppers Club has continued to this day.

Gange says while he is enjoying his retired life now, he still feels a sense of pride to see Prince Albert volleyball clubs still emerging as some of the best in the province.

“I’m proud of what the kids have done, as well as the coaches and the organizers,” he said. “When I started the club, it was almost a selfish sort of thing to improve the level of my high school team at Carlton. The club continued to do well, and it’s nice to see that it’s going in the right direction.”

Howard was a member of the Sask. Games Council and was the sport co-chair for the 1992 Sask. Summer Games in P.A. He spearheaded a campaign to create and outfit the Harry Jerome Track for the city of Prince Albert. For this, he was awarded P.A.’s Sportsman of the Year.

In 1995 he agreed to chair the board and be the CEO of the 1999 Western Canada Summer Games, also held in Prince Albert. The games were very successful, and the city was the beneficiary of several million dollars worth of improvements and new facilities. The city chose him Citizen of the Year in 2000. In retirement, Howard continues to curl and golf and spends part of the winter in Mesa, Arizona where he plays pickleball, golf and bocce.

-with files from Sask. Volleyball

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

After a quick first round in the 2022 WHL playoffs, the second round is off to an even faster pace. Every second round series has a team holding a 2-0 lead in their respective best of seven’s, with the exception of the Edmonton Oil Kings who have a 3-0 series lead over the Red Deer Rebels.

The first round went by with just one upset, but it was the biggest one imaginable. The eighth seeded Vancouver Giants took down the top seeded Everett Silvertips in six games, becoming the first team in the WHL’s internet era to win a series as an eight seed.

The Giants aren’t faring as well in the second round, as they trail their series 2-0 to the second seed Kamloops Blazers. Kamloops took games one and two by 3-1 and 4-3 finals at home. The Blazers are one of just three teams in the playoffs who have still not lost a game this postseason. They swept their first round series against the Spokane Chiefs.

Joining the Blazers as the only other undefeated team in the Western Conference is the Portland Winterhawks. After sweeping the Prince George Cougars in the first round, the Winterhawks also hold a 2-0 second round series advantage over the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Shifting to the Eastern Conference, it’s been a tale of dominance in the case of the Oil Kings and Winnipeg ICE.

Edmonton breezed their way through the first round with a sweep of the Lethbridge Hurricanes. In the second round they were paired up with the Red Deer Rebels, who were chasing the Oil Kings all season long for the top spot in the Central division. However their second round matchup has been completely one sided up to this point, as Edmonton has a firm 3-0 series lead, with a chance to close it out with a sweep on Wednesday night.

Games one and two seemed enjoyable enough for the second seeded Oil Kings, as they emerged victorious by 4-0 and 5-0 scores on home ice. Game three on the road proved more of a challenge with a hungry Rebels team looking for a win on their own home ice. However, Edmonton once again came away with a 5-4 win in overtime, one that will leave Rebels fans with a bitter taste in their mouths.

In the other second round matchup in the East, it’s proving to be a similar story through two games between the ICE and the Moose Jaw Warriors. After pummeling the Prince Albert Raiders in four out of five games in the first round, the ICE have continued to show why they finished the season as the number one team in the league. 6-1 and 7-0 wins on home ice have catapulted Winnipeg to a 2-0 series lead, with all the momentum in their hands as the series shifts back to Moose Jaw for games three and four. The series can end as soon as Wednesday night if the ICE complete the sweep. The two sides go head to head on Tuesday night in game three (score unavailable by press time).

Aside from the Silvertips, who were dethroned of their top spot in the West, every team seeded in the top four qualified for the second round. With the way things are trending right now, the top two teams in the East (Winnipeg and Edmonton), as well as the second and third seeded teams in the West (Kamloops and Portland), are destined to meet in their respective Conference Final.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

The Prince Albert Volleyball Club’s 16U Smashing Bananas finished their season with some extra hardware over the weekend. The team came home from provincials in Saskatoon with silver medals. They fell to the Central Valley Volleyball Club (CVVC) out of Warman in the final.

“I’m quite proud of the boys and the effort they gave me,” coach Ethan Minier said. “They showed a lot of perseverance and I was very proud and pleased of them for that.”

It wasn’t an easy path to the final for the Smashing Bananas. They entered the second day of the tournament outside of the top four in the power pool, and had to win a crossover game to even make it to the playoffs. Once they made it to the knock out stage, the team dropped the first set in both the crossover game and semi final, but roared back to win in three sets on both occasions.

In the crossover match against the Battlefords Volleyball Club, the Smashing Bananas fell 23-25 in the first set. They rebounded with a 25-27 second set win, before winning the game with a 15-13 third set win.

In the semi final, the team was matched up with the Regina Volleyball Club, who knocked off the Regina 15U team in their crossover contest. The semi final match was also intense, as Regina took the first set 25-19. Prince Albert again responded with a second set win by a score of 25-23. They punched their ticket to the final with a 15-13 third set victory.

Their run fell short in the gold medal game, as they fell 23-25, 18-25 to the CVVC Sting. The Sting 16U team became the first team in the club’s history to capture provincial gold.

“Going into the weekend, I saw us as a team that could have won that final,” Minier said. “For us, the physical aspect of our game has always been quite well developed. It’s just more of the mental and emotional side of the game I think that we struggle with. We were able to get past those challenges this weekend.”

Provincials marked the final tournament of the season for the team, and Minier explained how the team has improved since the start of the year.

“Overall this season I saw a lot of physical improvement, whether it was technique or endurance and physicality of play,” he said. “But I think as a team, we showed a much higher level of unison, and we were able to focus a lot better.”

Being just a couple of years graduated from high school, Minier thinks being close to his players’ ages may have helped to build chemistry quicker. And with the style of the game staying relatively the same as when he played, the coach says it helps him to build a connection within the group.

“I think being just out of volleyball myself, I still remember what I struggled with, and I can think a little bit more like them,” he explained. “I think that aspect of my coaching might help them. Whether it’s able to compensate for the lack of experience, I don’t know, but I definitely felt that I connected really well with them. I thought they received the info that I was giving to them pretty well.

“My message for them now that the season is over is to be happy with the hard work that we put in. The job might not necessarily be done, and that last game is a great way for us to use it as fuel to continue to develop and look for that number one spot next year and in years ahead. They were a really great group of kids and I think they all have bright futures on and off the court.”

Meanwhile, the U17 En Fuego girls won provincial gold. They beat the Wadena Thunder in the final 25-23, 23-15, 17-15.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

After starting the season on a two game road swing, the Prince Albert Predators will play their first home game of the year on Saturday night when they welcome the Swift Current Wolverines to Kinsmen Arena.

“I know the boys are excited to play,” head coach Tyson Fetch said. “There’s about 16 guys on this team who have never played in front of a crowd of 400, maybe 500 people. We’re hoping to draw that many people, maybe even more. They’re pretty excited to get this game going.”

The Predators had their first game of the season cut short against the Standing Buffalo Fighting Sioux on April 30. The game was called off in the second period due to a lack of floor traction. They had a game the very next day in Regina, and were able to beat the Barracudas by an 11-8 final for their first official win of the season.

Now with some game experience under their belts, Fetch thinks that will help to calm some of the nerves that playing the first home game of the year might bring.

“I know there are some nerves, there always are,” he said. “I think starting off on the road does help with the nerves a little bit. Just getting those four periods that we had of lacrosse was good for us. It introduced those younger players to the game, and to the level of lacrosse that this is. I think that helped to calm their nerves, and now they know that they can play at this level.”

The team held two practices this week in preparation for their game against the Wolverines on Saturday. Swift Current is off to a 2-1 start to their season. They began the year on a two game homestand, first falling to the Saskatoon Jr. Swat 10-5 on April 22, and then beating the Regina Barracudas 15-8 on April 29. Their most recent game was an 8-3 triumph over the Fighting Sioux on May 1.

Fetch knows his Predators group will have to be sharp against their opponent on Saturday, but thinks they will be ready for the challenge.

“This week we had two good practices,” he said. “We’ve worked on a few things that we’ve needed to tighten up from the last two games that we played. I think they’re ready to go by ball drop.

“We’ve been putting some focus on our powerplay. We have to score every time we get a powerplay, there’s no question about it. We have seven guys that can score goals, so we need to score every time. If we do that, the other team plays a little differently, because they don’t want to take penalties. We’ve also been working on our fast break and defending the fast break. We didn’t do a very good job of that against Regina, and I know Swift Current is a well coached team and they have a lot of skill. They’re going to try to pick us apart there, but I think we did a good job of prepping the boys for that.”

Saturday’s game will have an opening ceremony before the action. Magician Roger Boucher will be performing during the intermission, and there will also be prizes to be won.

Kids 12 and under get in free. Tickets for anyone over the age of 12 is just $5.

Opening faceoff is set for 6 p.m.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

When the SJHL wraps up a game seven series between the Estevan Bruins and Flin Flon Bombers for the Canalta Cup on Friday, it will be the final game played under commissioner Bill Chow.

Chow announced in January that he would step down after the Centennial Cup tournament. He said it hasn’t quite sunk in yet that his days involved with the SJHL are nearly at a conclusion.

“The season is going to end on Friday, but we still have the Centennial Cup coming up,” Chow said. “I’ve just been focusing on everything that has been going on lately and trying to wrap that up. Maybe as we get closer to the end of the Centennial Cup, it might sink in that okay, I’m done. I think right now everything is in a good spot, and I’m looking forward to turning the keys over to the kingdom.”

Chow will turn those keys over to Kyle McIntyre, who was announced as Chow’s successor earlier this week. Chow says he is glad the league was able to find a new commissioner before he left, so that he can give some advice before his term comes to an end.

“When I let the board know that I was stepping down back in January, I wanted to give them time to look for someone to be named in a timely fashion, hopefully in May,” Chow explained. “They did that, and now it provides us some time to work together and have a period of transition so that way everything isn’t foreign to Kyle. We’re going to be working together over the next month or so, hoping that he can get a good start to running the SJHL himself.”

It’s the first time since 2011 that the SJHL will see a new commissioner. Chow filled that role for 11 years, but with the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, he says everything culminated to a point where he decided to step down, despite signing a two-year contract extension in June 2021.

“I think there are a number of things that have taken place, and they do vary from the Humboldt crash to the pandemic over these pasts two years. A lot of energy was put into those events in trying to make things work. Right now it just seems like the right time for me to leave. I’m comfortable with that decision, and obviously I didn’t come to that decision overnight; there was a long process for me to go through.”

Chow says he isn’t sure whether he will stay involved with hockey in the future or not. He spent 25 years as a WHL scout, while working with the Prince Albert Police Service at the same time. He also spent time as a scout for the SJHL’s Melfort Mustangs, so if he does choose to return to the sport, his resume speaks volumes.

“That one is up for debate,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, all I know is I’m going to do something. When it comes to hockey, those opportunities are sometimes few and far between. I’m just going to get to May 31 and see what happens. I’ll see what happens next fall as well, and if something comes along, something comes along. If it doesn’t, so be it.”

In his time as commissioner, Chow quickly realized how special the SJHL is. With 11 out of 12 teams being community owned, he adopted a new appreciation for how communities in Saskatchewan love their hockey. It’s something he says he will always be grateful for.

“There are places outside of our province that have community owned teams, but there is no league that sits alone as being totally community owned and volunteer based like ours. The one thing about our teams and our communities is the amount of pride that they have. Everybody has their own sense of pride, and for me, being in different communities across Western Canada, it just seems like there’s a connection between that community and the fans and the players that you don’t see in other places. “

Of course, when you leave something behind, memories you’ve long forgotten about can start to rush in. It’s no different for Chow, who, when asked about his favorite memory in the SJHL, rewound all the way back to the 2013-14 season, when the Yorkton Terriers captured the RBC Cup in Vernon, B.C.

“Yorkton was the representative from Saskatchewan and Manitoba, so we were in Vernon for that. But I had committed myself to doing the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Notre Dame. Unbeknownst to me, when I made those plans, they conflicted, so I flew back home to take care of the Hall of Fame induction. Yorkton hadn’t been doing so well in that tournament, but they did make it into the playoffs. I thought I was just going to stay home, because it didn’t really look like Yorkton was going to have a chance to win

“Lo and behold, they would get into the final. So now I had to turn around and fly back out to Vernon. I got in really late at night. I slept the next day and got to the game that night. That final went into overtime and Yorkton won. That part was really funny the way that it occurred.”

Chow also took the chance to thank everyone involved with making his job run as smooth as possible, through good times and bad.

“I’d really like to thank all the boards, the volunteer boards, and the people who sit on those boards. Of course the volunteers in general who are so committed to those teams, for all the work they have done over these lasts 11 years. I wish everybody all the best, and I hope it’s more successful than when I was here.”

As mentioned earlier, Kyle McIntyre will be the SJHL’s new commissioner. In a statement to the SJHL, McIntyre said he’s excited to get started on his new path.

“I look forward to collaborating with our twelve teams and their many volunteers, coaches, and players to make the SJHL Canada’s premier junior hockey league,” his statement reads. “Saskatchewan has a very strong minor hockey community and our U18AAA league is among the best in Canada. The continued growth and development of Saskatchewan players will be paramount.”

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

One door shut, but another one opened for Prince Albert’s Tanner Howe when the Regina Pats narrowly missed out on the playoffs.

Howe and teammate Connor Bedard missed getting their first taste of WHL post-season action, but were selected to represent Team Canada at the U-18 World Championships in Germany, which ran from April 23-May 1.

“Whenever you get the chance to represent your country it’s amazing,” Howe said. “It was an awesome experience over in Germany. Playing with Connor throughout the year and building that connection with him, and then being able to travel that far with him was pretty cool.”

Bedard spent some time in Europe before he was selected by the Pats first overall in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft. He suited up with Swedish club HV71, playing in five games split between the U18 and U20 squads when he was just 15 years old.

Howe says he was able to learn a little bit about the hockey atmosphere in Europe just from Bedard’s experience.

“I asked him what it was like and what I needed to bring and stuff like that,” Howe explained. “There were all sorts of things that I would talk to him about that, and he was a big help before we flew out.

“I think the biggest difference was the crowd. It was pretty electric, it was almost like a soccer crowd. It was pretty cool just to experience the atmosphere of a hockey game in Europe.”

Howe and Bedard entered the world championship as the only 16-year-olds on the Team Canada roster. While playing on the same team as guys who have a year or two more experience, Howe said it was cool to share that moment with the team, and he was able to chat a lot with players from other leagues across the country.

“It’s pretty cool getting to play with those older guys, and they do a good job of making you better,” he said. “They make you stronger and just build you up, so that obviously helped a lot. I got the chance to talk to some of the guys about their league and what’s going on and how their league has been. Some advice they told me was to keep going no matter what, and don’t get down on yourself and keep battling. “

While he was held pointless in the tournament and Canada was sent home after a quarterfinal loss to Finland, Howe reiterated how grateful he was for the opportunity to wear the maple leaf and represent his country, as well as getting the chance to play with the Pats this season.

“Just representing Canada is a huge honour for me, and I’m proud of myself for it. Getting the chance to meet some new guys and being able to travel the world is pretty cool and I think it’s pretty special.

“Going to Regina was huge for me, and it was really fun. Seeing what I was able to do, again I’m proud of myself, and hopefully I can do that again next year and build from there. To top off the season by going to the U18 was pretty special. It showed that all my work this year paid off to go to that. It’s pretty cool to see that and be rewarded. It builds more confidence heading into next year and playing with the older guys.”

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca