Bantam, peewees wrap up pre-season schedule with wins

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

The Wheatland Athletic Association (WAA) peewee Braves wrapped up a near perfect pre-season in Lethbridge.
After thumping a couple nearby teams two weeks ago, the Braves put their regular season roster to the test against what could be the top teams in the south division of the South Central Alberta Hockey League (SCAHL) and left with a 3-1 record.
“I’ve been really happy with the progress our guys have made on the back end these past few weeks. We have received some pretty good goaltending and it looks like we are going to score a bunch. It should be a pretty good year,” said Braves Head Coach Keith Klemmensen.
The Braves got stunned in the first during the tourney opener Sept. 14, as the host Lethbridge Hurricanes White jumped out to a 5-1 lead.
From there, the depth up front took over and controlled the play the rest of the weekend, including outscoring the Hurricanes 5-2 the remainder of the way.
Dylan Serginson sparked the comeback for the Braves with a pair, and Brock Keer, Kyle McDonough, Nash Wassing and Connor Radke recorded singles as the Braves fell short 7-6.
From that point on it was all Braves, as Luc Trevors scored the first two and added an empty netter in a 7-5 win over the Taber Golden Suns Sept. 15.
Chipping in was McDonough, Tate Hanson, Trip Jensen and Keer the rest of the way over the much-improved Golden Suns outfit.
Later that afternoon, Wassing one-upped his teammate and pumped in four goals against the Medicine Hat Hounds in a 7-4 victory.
Serginson, Radke and McDonough also got in on the scoring.
In the Braves’ final pre-season game, they ended the exhibition season on a high note with a 6-4 win Sept. 16 over the Lethbridge Hurricanes Red.
Another slow start saw the Braves trail 5-1 after the first 20 minutes.
Leading the comeback was Jordon Hendricks with a pair of snipes, as Radke, McDonough, Hanson and Wassing combined for the win.
“I saw a lot of good things this weekend. If you think about it, those kids played four games in less than 36 hours. That’s a lot of hockey in a short period of time and I thought they looked solid,” said Klemmensen. “The boys will be chomping at the bit to get going for real now.”
The Braves will open their SCAHL season Sept. 21 in Standard against the Hounds. They will close out the first weekend of the season Sept. 23 at the Ron Ebbesen Arena against the Airdrie Lightning White.
Like the Braves, the bantam Warriors wrapped up their pre-season slate with a successful weekend.
Playing a pair of games in the High River area, the Warriors went 2-0.
They opened the weekend by blanking the Calgary Blackhawks 5-0 in Blackie and closed the curtain on the exhibition season with a confident 7-3 win over the Foothills Bisons Sept. 15 in High River.
“The boys are looking forward to the start of the season now. It’s always good to get the pre-season wrapped up and move on to the regular season,” said Warriors Head Coach Cody Brown.
The Warriors will have to wait one more week to get the SCAHL season underway, as they are off this weekend. Brown and his staff finalized the roster following the win over the Bisons, and will take the extra week to prepare for their season opener Sept. 29 in Standard when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
The midget Chiefs were the final WAA team to wrap up the training camp portion of their schedule, when they hosted their annual Red and White intrasquad game Sept. 17 at the Standard Arena.
Stran Red Crow was one of the nine returning players featured in the game and powered Team Red with a pair of goals in the 5-0 blanking of Team White. Landon Brassard and Zach Cooke teamed up in net for the shutout.
This weekend, the Chiefs will use a roster constructed with the best players from the intrasquad game at a pre-season tournament in Taber.
The Chiefs kick off their SCAHL season Sept. 28 when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes at the Standard Arena.