On February 5, Montréal Canadien legends will be flying down the ice at Drumheller Memorial Arena. On Friday, a list of local players who will be on the ice was released.
    Habs alumni, which include Guy Lafleur as coach and other greats like Steve Shutt and Richard Sevigny will be playing in a charity game to raise funds for the Badlands Community Facility. Some childhood dreams are coming true, as 22 have signed up as Drumheller All-Stars.
    Jeremy Peters describes himself as more of a pond hockey player and followed in his brother’s footsteps cheering for Club de Hockey Canadien from day one. It is a thrill to share the ice with these players.
    “I was fortunate enough to watch them win the cup in 1993, I was only 12 years old so that was huge for me,” chuckles Peters. “Since then it has been pretty rough.”
    “It is going to be a lot of fun, and it will be cool to meet all those guys.”
    Mark Sheeler describes himself more as an original six fan, than a Montreal fan per se. In fact, playing across the ice from the Habs is fitting for him, and if he had to pick, he would have put on a blue and white sweater instead. Despite this, it is going to be the experience of lifetime.
“Guy Lafleur, and Steve Shutt, I grew up watching these guys,” said Sheeler.
    Sheeler did run into a bit of a snag, however. While he was  practicing up for the game he suffered a broken wrist and will be riding the pine.
     While there are 22  facing the Canadiens alumni, three will stand with Habs. The Mail brought readers the story of Bob Scott fulfilling a dream to work the bench with Lafleur in the January  15 edition. He will be joined on the Alumni bench by skaters Paul Richard and Marcel Augey.
    Augey said his father introduced him to the Canadiens and he has become a diehard fan. This is an experience of a lifetime for him. He has met Lafleur once, and he is looking forward to playing for him next Wednesday.
    Members of the Habs Alumni confirmed for the game includes Richard Sévigny (goalie), Gilbert Delorme, Mathieu Dandenault, Rick Green, Pierre Dagenais, Normand Dupont, Jocelyn Lemieux, Stéphane Richer, Steve Shutt, Dan Daoust, and Guy Lafleur as coach. Local Canadiens include Marcel Augey, Paul Richard and Bob Scott.
    Drumheller All-Stars include Jeremy Willis, Gary Chambers, Mark Sheeler, Jeremy Peters, Kyle Suntjens, Rod Knelson,  Rob Hegberg, Jason Hegberg, Laverne Bremer, Tony Pliva, Gary Chung, Donald Richard, Michael Richard, Jason James, Darren Toffan, Sheldon Straub, Shane Straub, Jason Brander, Denis St-Pierre, Darcy Schinnour, Ivo Dumancic (goalie) and Wayne Broad (goalie).
    Twelve local young hockey players will also have the opportunity to go on-ice against the Canadiens Alumni as thanks for the players and their parents for their support of the event by selling game tickets.

St. Anthony’s School was abuzz with basketball action last weekend as the junior Saints boys and girls hosted their annual tournament.
    In both cases the two St. Anthony’s teams ended up in three way ties for first place, forcing organizers to add up points against to determine the winners.
    The Saints girls started their tournament off playing their cross-town rivals DVSS. The Saints played hard and won 44-16 on Friday afternoon.
     In their next game they took on Stettler, and were able to go away with another hard fought victory, winning 41-31.
    For their final game in round robin action, they faced Trochu.
    Trochu came out strong wanting to win. The Saints did not have the same energy, and ended up losing 47-21.
    After round robin play, Stettler, Trochu and the Saints all had 2-1 records, tied for the best record.  Officials went to points against to determine the winner, and this put Trochu on top, with Stettler in second and the Saints in third.
    Only 12 points separated the teams.
    ‘It was really that close,” said coach Gavin Makse.
    With less than a handful of games under their belt, Makse  feels good about this team’s progress.
     “Last year we had a 1-3 record by this time, this year we are 3-1 so I’ll take that any day,” said Makse.
    He said in each game the team came out strong, but it was noticeable in their loss they didn’t have the same level of intensity, focus and effort as in their victories.
    “Trochu came out to win, they wanted it more than we did,” said Makse. “I told the girls we did a lot of good things on the weekend.”
    He adds the loss could be constructive as well showing the team areas that need focus.
    The Saints boys also had a strong tournament.
    They started out facing Delia, but lost in their first match.
    In their second game on Saturday morning, they faced Brownfield. The Saints were strong, but as the clock ticked down, the two teams were tied. With no time left on the clock Brownfield found themselves at the line shooting free throws. They were unsuccessful, forcing overtime. There, the Saints put together their first win of their tournament.
    They went on to finish off Stettler, and ending up in the same predicament as the girls. Three teams had matching records.
    The first tie-break was comparing head to head play and because Delia beat the Saints in round robin action, they were victorious.