St. Albert’s Savoie goes first overall at 2019 WHL Bantam Draft

RED DEER - For the fifth straight year, an Albertan was the top selection at the Western Hockey League Bantam Draft as the Winnipeg Ice took Matthew Savoie with the first overall pick. The St. Albert native is coming off a strong performance at the 2019 Alberta Cup, as well as a bronze medal at the 2019 Canada Winter Games, where he skated for Team Alberta U16 Male as an under-aged player. Savoie became the first draft pick for the Ice since moving to Winnipeg from Cranbrook following the 2018-19 WHL season.

A total of seven Albertans were taken in the first round of the WHL Bantam Draft, with Albertans selected with four of the top five picks. Sherwood Park’s Keaton Downhaniuk and Mayerthorpe’s Koehn Ziemmer went third and fourth overall, respectively, to the Prince George Cougars, while the Brandon Wheat Kings took Red Deer forward Nate Danielson with the fifth overall pick.

RED DEER - During the 2018-19 hockey season, Hockey Alberta completed a trial project at the Peewee division to implement, test and review a new Provincial Championship Model under the Alberta One initiative. Under this trial, the previous Peewee A-D Provincial Championships transitioned to Peewee Tiers 1-4, with teams qualifying as League Champions from six Minor Leagues/organizations.

Representatives from Hockey Alberta’s Minor Regulations and Minor Leagues Committees have reviewed the data and feedback from the trial project in order to make the most informed decision going in to the 2020 Provincial Championships.

Committee members believe the trial project was successful in laying the foundation for the possible Provincial Championship structure of the future. However, it was agreed that one season is not enough to make a final decision related to the Provincial Championship structure.

Therefore, based on the review of the 2019 Peewee division trial project and taking into consideration results at the Bantam and Midget Zone Provincial Playdowns and Provincial Championships, which saw teams categorized based off league play, tiering, tournament and exhibition play through Minor Regulation 9.1 (c), it has been unanimously agreed to extend and amend the Provincial Championship Trial Project for the 2019-2020 season.

Under the revised trial project, the previous A-D Provincial Championships at the Peewee, Bantam and Midget divisions will move into Tiers 1-4. Teams will not participate in Zone Playdowns, but will instead qualify as League Champions from the following leagues/ organizations:

• Hockey Calgary
• Hockey Edmonton
• Central Alberta Hockey League
• Northern Alberta Interlock
• All Peace Hockey League
• North Eastern Alberta Hockey League

The Bantam Tiers 1-4 Provincial Championship Tournaments will take place on the weekend of March 19-22, 2020, while the Peewee and Midget Tiers 1-4 Provincial Championship Tournaments will happen on the weekend of March 26-29, 2020.

The events will consist of eight teams comprised of the league winners from the six above mentioned leagues/ organizations, one host team and one league runner-up that will be identified as a wild card team by the Minor Regulations and Minor Leagues Committees. Leagues/organizations will be scheduling play to ensure that league champions are determined no later than Sunday, March 8 (Bantam) and Sunday, March 15 (Peewee and Midget).

Provincial Championships at the Atom division will remain unchanged from past seasons. Minor Hockey Associations will declare their teams by December 1 with Zone Playdowns commencing in January.

BULLETIN 18:14 - 2020 Provincial Championship Trial Project

If you have any questions regarding the 2020 Provincial Championship Trial Project, please contact either your Zone Minor Regulations Coordinator or Bryden Burrell, Coordinator of Hockey Programs ([email protected]).

RED DEER -The coaching staff who will lead the Team Alberta U18 Female squad at the 2019 U18 National Championships has been announced by Hockey Alberta.

The team will be led by head coach Craig Perrett, who was on the bench as an assistant during the U18 Female gold medal run at the 2019 Canada Winter Games. Flanking him will be assistant coaches Dayna Janzen and Brett Wold, who both recently finished head coaching stints at the 2019 U16 Alberta Challenge. Other coaching staff members include goaltender coach Engi Lim, who has experience with the Team Alberta U16 program, and video coach Shanya Shwetz, who was an assistant coach at the 2019 U16 Alberta Challenge.

"We are very excited about the experience level of this particular group of coaches," said Kendall Newell, Manager of Female Hockey. "With the staff in place, we can now begin the process of building towards another successful year for the Team Alberta U18 Female program."

Invitations will be sent out to 68 players by the end of May to participate in the summer selection camp running from July 9-14 in Red Deer. A shortlist of players will be selected to participate in the final selection camp taking place September 27-29, where the final roster will be chosen. The team training weekend October 18-20 will be the final preparation before departing for the competition in Morden & Winkler, MB, November 3-9.

2019 Team Alberta U18 Staff

Hockey Alberta is pleased to announce the team staff that will lead Team Alberta U18 Female at the 2019 U18 Nationals.