Sports | DrumhellerMail

Raptors Hockey battles through first half of season

   Drumheller Minor Hockey is at the midpoint of their season and hockey players from Tykes to Midgets are performing well on the ice. More importantly, they are learning and having fun.
   The Canalta Novice B Raptors are playing well in a busy schedule, and have been in some high scoring games. They found success versus Oyen early in the season.
    Virtually every player on the team has earned points for the Raptors, Abram Sharpe is leading the team with 27 goals and 31 points.
   The McDonalds Novice A Raptors are also doing well, sporting a 5-1-1 record, finding victories versus Olds, Carstairs, Cochrane, and Didsbury. Maddux Pears is leading the team with 27 goals and six assists for 33 points.
   The Encana Atom B Raptors are playing well. So far this season they have a 6-3 record and have won their last four games. They earned wins versus Kneehill, Rockyford, Cremona, Olds, and Didsbury.
   Tyson Chambers is leading the team with 22 points and Kayden Bitz and Reid Macfarlane each have 16 points.        Every player on the roster has contributed points.
   The Yavis Atom A Raptors are also having a great season with a 6-0-1 record with outstanding goaltending from Brandon Williams with a 2.43 goals against average. Chase Mackey has 20 goals and 11 assists, Paxton Olson had 12 goals and seven assists and Ryan Schrock had seven goal and 11 assists. Every player has contributed points.
   The Hi-Way 9 Peewee B Raptors have a 5-2 record with wins over Sylvan Lake, Innisfail, and Stettler. Cody Hunt is leading the team with 12 goals and five assists. Terry Martin has nine goals and three assists and Seth Walker had seven goals and five assists.
   The NGC Peewee A Raptors are battling in a tough Division, but have notched a win over Hanna. Tanner Moulton is leading the team with four goals and four assists, and Kerric Chambers has six goals and one assist.
   The Boston Pizza Western Chev Bantam Raptors are sporting a winning 3-2-1 record and are getting a balanced attack with all players earning points. Tyler Boyko leads the way with six goals and four assists for 10 points, James Zuccatto and Kyle Gridley both have four goals and five assists.
   The Mastel Transport Midget Raptors are having a very successful season with a 5-2-1 record. They have wins over Oyen, Kneehill, Delburne, and 3Cs, (Consort, Castor Coronation). Ryan Hems has nine goals and three assists and Tyler Cardomone has seven goals and five assists.

Bantam Raptors to host March provincials

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   There will be some great hockey action in the valley come March as the Boston Pizza Bantam Raptors will be hosting provincials.
   Lyle Caweizel, president of Drumheller Minor Hockey told The Mail the ATB Financial Bantam C Championship will be played at the Drumheller Memorial Arena on March 18 and 19.
   He says they are already working on planning the event. He believes it has been a couple of years since Drumheller has hosted the provincials.
   He explains there are many options for the committee as to what kind of events they can plan during the tournament. Right now, they are looking at forming the committee and one of the first duties will be securing sponsors. One idea is a market.
“We are looking at having a market with some of the vendors in town over at the BCF. We haven’t formally planned anything yet, but we are batting some ideas around to make it a good weekend for Drumheller,” said Caweizel.
   There will be 10 teams competing in the tournament. And while the home team gets a by, the Raptors are planning to compete in provincial playdowns. If they are successful, the second place team will also qualify.
   The Bantams are having a strong season and so far are sporting a 3-2-1 record in league play.

Midget B Raptors stack up well in league play

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    The Midget B Raptors have been hard at work staying competitive in the Midget C division.
    This weekend, the team faced Oyen and the 3 C’s Coyotes.
    The second game was an at home back and forth match ultimately ending in a 6-6 tie.
    “The kids played pretty decent, but that was their second game this weekend and I think they were a little tired so we ended up tying which was alright, better than a loss,” said head coach Jason James
   “It would have been nice to get a win but the kids are playing quite decent, moving the puck around good, their passes look good and some of the plays are nice but we’re in a pretty competitive division.”
    The midgets look forward to fresh competition at their next tournament in Coaldale in January. They will be challenged by teams from all over the south division, many of which they have never seen before.
    “It’s new teams that you don’t even know and you get out there for the first time and it’s always interesting,” said James. “The kids seem to play better that way too because when you play the team already twice, and you have to play them for a third time, sometimes you just don’t get ready for the game whereas with a team that you’ve never played before, you get a little bit nervous and you seem to play better.”
   For the Raptors league games, all teams stack up well with very minimal differences between them.
   “All of the teams are within one or two goals like any team can beat any other team at any given time so it’s good for the kids too, it makes them work hard,” said James.
   Overall, the team is well on their way to another provincial bound season.
   “Everything seems to be going quite well, like I say these kids are working as a team and passing the puck well, hopefully we just continue on,” said James.
   Coach James wants to continue working on simple yet important skills that the players need in order to be successful.
   “A lot of it is back to basics,” said James. “A lot of skating, passing, and shooting and then once you can do that well then it’s a lot easier to run the systems that we as coaches pick to run.”
The Drumheller Dragon’s head coach Kevin Hasselberg and assistant coach Brayden Klimosko have even taken time out of their schedule to give some pointers for the budding team.
“It’s been nice having conversations with the Dragons coaches, they have been a real help on different drills and different strategies for what to do with these kids,” said James.
    Some midget players have their sights set on entering a higher league after this year but coach James gave a sober reminder of post secondary and of course, parent approval.
   “There are definitely kids that can continue on, they have the skill to do it, it just depends on what’s on their parents and their agenda for the rest of their life,” said James.
The team has banked five wins, two losses, and a tie so far this season and will regroup after the first week in January after the holiday season.

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