By Laurence Heinen /
The Simons Valley Outlaws fended off all challengers to win the 2008 Hockey Alberta Peewee AA Provincial Championships on March 16 at the Max Bell Centre.
That’s good news for the Calgary Northstars Hockey Association since all but three of the players on the Outlaws will graduate to the Bantam level for next season.
Simons Valley coach Robin Felker said the Outlaws had a successful season due to their team depth.
“We’ve got three good lines, six great defencemen and two goalies who did the job for us,” Felker said.
After skating to a 4-0 record in the preliminary round, the Outlaws downed the Medicine Hat Hounds in semifinal action before they edged the Shaw Meadows Rangers 8-7 in the final.
The line of Brayden Gourlay (two goals, two assists), Chad Labelle (two goals, one assist) and Riley Whittingham (three assists) led the way in the championship game.
“They really move the puck around well,” Felker said. “They’ve got a knack to find openings.”
The Outlaws finished off their season with a victory in the Challenge Cup Final of the 2008 Crowchild Challenge on March 23.
With the Outlaws trailing the host Crowchild Blackhawks 4-3 with about four minutes left in the third period, Whittingham scored to tie the game before Lees notched the game winner as Simons Valley went on to win the game 7-4.
Whittingham finished with three goals and two assists, Labelle had a goal and three assists, while Fustin Felker and Jacob Jeske also scored.
Bantam AAA
The Calgary Northstars Sabres downed the Langley Eagles 5-1 on March 23 to win the 31st Port Coquitlam International Bantam AAA Hockey Tournament.
Tanner Labelle scored twice and added an assist to lead Calgary to victory in the final, while Brendan Santini had a goal and two assists. Tyler Wagner and Mitchell Moroz also scored, while Logan Wall chipped in with a pair of assists.
Midget AAA
The Calgary Northstars matched up against the Red Deer Optimist Rebels in the first round of the playoffs.
The Northstars suffered a tough 6-5 overtime loss in the first game before rebounding for a 6-2 win in Game 2.
Logan Gabel, Chris Korpach and Ryan Hewitt scored the final three goals of the season for the Northstars in a disappointing 5-3 loss to the Chiefs. |
