Six Teams Hit the Ice on The Rock

The road to the Telus Cup has six teams facing off for the Nations AAA Midget title this upcoming week.

After nearly two months of grueling playoff hockey and competitive battles between provinces, six teams across Canada will now hit the ice in St. Johns Newfoundland.



The Breakdown from the West

The Thrashers are back at the TELUS Cup for the third time in four years, having lost in the gold medal game in 2008 before finishing fourth as the host team one year later. Winnipeg was the class of Manitoba this season, winning the league’s regular season and playoff titles, losing just two of 11 games in series wins over Pembina Valley, Brandon and Southwest.


Manitoba Midget League

Goaltending statistics by seasons end had GDI goaltenders placing in the top 5 within the MBAAA Midget League. Provincial Champions (Teagan Sacher, Alex Henry) placed 2nd and 3rd respectively. Teagan Sacher prided himself on consistency through the long season and finished with a 1.88 GAA in 25 games, and 0.923 Save Percentage. Alex Henry capped of the season with a seven game span of allowing only two goals against or less, which included two shutouts. By seasons end Henry finished with 5 perfect games, a 1.90 GAA, and a 90.69 Save Percentage.

Winnipeg's south end team, the Winnipeg Wild, were backstopped by a league newcomer and highly touted junior prospect, Spencer Tremblay. Heading into the unknown as he entered his first season of AAA in the province of Manitoba after moving back home from Notre Dame, Tremblay became comfortable quickly. Within his first seven games he notched four shutouts. Finishing the league in first within all goaltender statistical categories, Tremblay had an outstanding season. His partner between the pipes, Cory Nygaard, completed his last year of midget hockey as a veteran in the league. Nygaard was resilient throughout the season as he came up with many strong outings in pressure filled games, including a playoff win against Norman where he allowed one goal against on 34 shots fired his way.

Also noted within the MBAAA Midget League was playoff finalist Gage Murray. The Southwest Cougars rookie finished the year with a 14-1-1 record. As Murray stands as a monster in net with his 6'3'' - 171 lbs fame, he looks on for a durable future in net.

Brendan Edie, Tyler Oswald, and Justin Holder all had personal success stories throughout the season.

Edie was called up to the MJHL's Steinbach Pistons in the middle of February and blanked the OCN Blizzard with a 3-0 win and was credited for recording the franchises first shutout.Oswald was recalled late in the season to the Saskatoon Blades and saw action against the Brandon Wheat Kings where he made 15 stops mid-way through the game. Besides being called up to his Major Junior squad, Oswald also recieved his fair share of hardware as he was awarded the MBAAA Goaltender of the Month for January and also received the All-Star Defensive Player of the Game award for the league All-Star game. Not to mention, he also saw his fair share of rubber with 1018 shots against and kept up a .903 Save Percentage. The Brandon Wheat Kings Justin Holder helped his team battle to beat the Eastman Selects in their second round series and kept many games against the Winnipeg Thrashers close in the teams semi-final playoff series.


Sasktachewan Midget League

The Saskatchewan Midget Hockey League also had many long runs for GDI goaltenders leading past playoffs.

Longtime GDI goalie, Andy Desautels, stood tall in net over the season and maintained a 90.24 Save Percentage. While playing on the Regina Pat Canadians Desautels was also selected to play on this years U-17 Team West where he shared goaltending duties with Tri-City American - Chris Dreidger. After his playoff run with the Canadians, Desautels was recalled to his Major Junior team, Everett Silvertips, and served as the teams backup for the remaining eight games of the season. Desautels shared duties through the season with goaltender Casey Parker.

Moose Jaw Generals goaltender Travis Pelletier entered his first season in the league and finished the year off with a 2.84 GAA, and shared duties with Matt Gibney between the pipes at this years Western Regionals as the host team.

Tisdale Trojans veteran Josh Switzer had a .895 Save Percentage by seasons end as he played on a middle of the pack team that had a tough playoff run against the highly favored Saskatoon Contacts. Towards the end of January Switzer saw success against the leagues top team as he allowed only one goal on 34 shots to help his team to victory, and then went on to win his next two games allowing only one goal.

Young 1995 born goaltender Spencer Bomboir entered into the league on a .500 record team and held his own throughout his Bantam year as a rookie goaltender for the Yorkton Harvest. Sharing duties in net was Kale Thomson who finished the year off with a .904 Save Percentage.


Heading Into the Telus Cup National Championships

In Moose Jaw, Sask., for the West Regional, the Winnipeg Thrashers did something they couldn’t do in their previous trip in 2008 – beat the Saskatchewan champions in the round robin. A 3-1 victory over Prince Albert kicked off an unbeaten preliminary round for Winnipeg, which beat Thunder Bay 6-5 to clinch a spot in the final before settling for a 2-2 tie with the host Generals. Matched up with the Mintos in the championship game, the Thrashers allowed the game’s first goal before scoring four unanswered and booking their TELUS Cup ticket.

Winnipeg is following in big footsteps in St. John’s – the West Region champion has won six of the last seven national titles. The only West team not to take home the top prize in that span? The Thrashers, in 2008.


For the full 2011 Telus Cup schedule and results Click Here.

To view past National Champions Click Here.

Six Teams Hit the Ice on The Rock