Hockey Alberta announced Monday that the organization will be receiving a $25,000 grant from RBC.

Hockey Alberta announced Monday that the organization will be receiving a $25,000 grant from RBC’s Play Hockey Initiative to fund "The Girls Game" Hockey Festival, April 15-17, 2011 in Alberta’s Capital Region. This is a partnership with RBC, Hockey Canada, Hockey Edmonton and the Edmonton Girls Hockey Association.

“This is an excellent opportunity to put the female game on display around the most prominent national female championship, the Esso Cup,” said Hockey Alberta General Manager, Rob Litwinski. “We are very excited about this event and we thank RBC for providing us with this opportunity.”

“RBC Play Hockey enables us to reach more people, more communities and more volunteers than ever before to encourage hockey at all levels,” said Gord Nixon, president and CEO, RBC. “From ponds to podiums, RBC is proud to support the hard work and dedication that helps hockey happen.”

The three-day festival will feature a variety of events including a Novice “Try Hockey” Jamboree, Atom and Peewee Skills Camp run by Olympic Gold Medalist Carla MacLeod, Team Alberta Challenge Zone Camp Tryouts, Intro to Coach clinic, community festival and the Esso Cup Midget AAA National Female Championship.

Over the past seven years, RBC has awarded more than $700,000 to grassroots hockey activities across Canada. To expand on this tradition, RBC Play Hockey will award $1,000,000 in grants over the next year, to shine the spotlight on the people and programs that help hockey happen in communities across North America.

“Without skates to tie, volunteers to teach, coaches to inspire and ice to skate on the game of hockey simply would not happen,” added Nixon. “Hockey is bigger than any person or business. It is something that ties communities together and through RBC Play Hockey, we will fund projects that keep hockey growing and vibrant.”

“RBC knows and understands the impact and importance of our game," said Bob Nicholson, president and CEO of Hockey Canada. "The RBC Play Hockey program will help acknowledge the efforts of the unsung heroes who make hockey happen in big cities and small towns all across the country.”

RBC has recruited a group of ambassadors to help with the program nationally including Steve Yzerman, Steven Stamkos, Carla MacLeod, Meaghan Mikkelson and Greg Westlake.

From the AJFHL - The Alberta Junior Female Hockey League is gearing up for another exciting hockey season. Last year was our first year as a league and it went relatively smooth, with seven teams out of Northern Alberta. Our target age for the girls is 18 to 21 years of age, with teams allowed to have four over age players (22 yrs old) each. Our teams are looking for graduating Midget A, AAA, college and University players to fill their roster.

The teams were fairly even during our first year and Edmonton came out on top as League and Provincial Champions. Unfortunately, we lost our Wainwright team this year, but picked up three new teams from Southern Alberta; Lethbridge, Cochrane and Calgary. The Red Deer team joins these three new teams to form our Southern Division. Our five original teams from Northern Alberta (Sherwood Park, Fort Saskatchewan, Irma, Spruce Grove and Edmonton) form the Northern Division. The two Divisions end up meeting once throughout the year and all teams play a 20 game schedule. Every team makes the playoffs and the winner from the Southern Division will play off against the winner of the Northern Division.

There is a strong indication that more teams will be joining us from the south next year; we look forward to expanding our league even further and increasing the competition. Word is starting to get out to the general public and there are scouts from Canadian and American Colleges and Universities that have showed interest in our girls.

Our season started at the beginning of October and will continue to the third week in February. Playoffs should be complete before the end of March. As well, four of our teams from Alberta have been invited to participate in the Lt. Governor’s Female Junior Hockey Tournament in February, 2011. There will be two teams from the United States, two teams from Ontario, six teams from Winnipeg and four teams from Alberta.
We look forward to a prosperous and exciting second year of the AJFHL’s hockey season.

Please visit our website at www.ajfhl.ca and get all of the latest news!

Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) announced three Alberta players - Brad Ross (Lethbridge, Alta), Dylan Olsen (Calgary, Alta) and Mark Pysyk (Sherwood Park, Alta) - that have been invited to take part in Canada’s National Junior Team selection camp, December 12- 15, 2010 at the MasterCard Centre in Toronto, Ont.

Of the 39 players invited, three are returning players – Jared Cowen (Allan, Sask./Spokane, WHL), Calvin de Haan (Carp, Ont./Oshawa, OHL) and Ryan Ellis (Freelton, Ont./Windsor, OHL) helped Canada earn the silver medal at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship in Regina and Saskatoon, Sask. Ellis also won a gold medal with Canada at the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa, Ont. In addition, thirty-four of the players named to the selection camp roster were drafted in either the 2009 or 2010 NHL Entry Drafts, including eighteen first-round selections and four second-round picks.

Hockey Canada can still add additional players prior to the opening of the selection camp on December 12, in the event that NHL teams loan Canada’s National Junior Team junior-aged eligible players currently playing in the NHL.

“On behalf of Hockey Canada, we want to congratulate the players named to the camp roster today, along with their club teams, parents and minor hockey coaches that have helped them reach this level,” said Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s senior director of hockey operations/national teams. “As well, we would like to thank the Canadian Hockey League for its partnership and support of the Program of Excellence.”

“Thanks to Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence, many of these players have already received the experience necessary to deal with high-paced international competition such as the World Juniors,” said Kevin Prendergast, Hockey Canada’s head scout of the men’s Program of Excellence. “The quality and skill of the 39 players invited to the camp next week is a testament to the hard work, commitment and development of all those involved in the Canadian minor hockey and junior hockey systems.”

Prendergast, who was named head scout in September, travelled coast to coast during the early months of the 2010-11 season, assessing players in preparation for the selection camp.

“On behalf of the Canadian Hockey League, I would like to congratulate all players who have been named to the selection camp roster,” said David Branch, president of the CHL. “This is a tremendous honour, and all have worked extremely hard to get to where they are today.”

SELECTION CAMP INFORMATION
There will be two Red-White intrasquad games (December 12-13) and one game against the Canadian University National Team (December 14). The team, made up of CIS players, will be representing Canada at the 2011 FISU Games in January 2011. Due to limited seating at the MasterCard Centre, accreditation (team, media, scouts) will be required for all practices and games. A select number of passes will be offered in a contest for Hockey Canada followers on its social media platforms. A draw for passes will occur on December 8. For information on the draw, go to www.Facebook.com/HockeyCanada and www.twitter.com/HockeyCanada.

Once the final roster is named at the conclusion of the selection camp in Toronto on December 15, Canada’s National Junior Team will play in three pre-competition games in southern Ontario prior to the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship, December 26 to January 5 in Buffalo, N.Y.

Canada has medaled at twelve straight IIHF World Junior Championships, including gold medal performances in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, silver medals in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2010 and bronze medals in 2000 and 2001.

For more information on Canada’s National Junior Team and Hockey Canada, please visit www.HockeyCanada.ca.