Daysland North Stars capture Provincial AA Championship

The Daysland North-stars earned a spot in the Alberta senior men’s “AA-A” provincial tournament in Vermilion, hosted by the Dewberry Mustangs Mar. 30 – Apr. 1.

The BRHL champs went undefeated on the weekend and earned yet another banner for what turned out to be a banner year for the team.

On Friday, the Northstars matched up against the Falher Pirates from the North Peace Hockey League.

The Northstars dominated the game and won 4-2. They outshot the Pirates 38-13; but the Pirate goalie, Ian Chwok, was on fire and earned himself the MVP for the Falher team.

Todd Steil picked up a pair of goals Friday to earn game MVP for Daysland. Also scoring for Daysland were Derek Wolbeck and Kevin Moneta.

Game two for the Daysland team was Saturday, Mar. 31 when they faced the Drayton Valley Wildcats from the North Central Hockey League.

The Northstars out shot the Wildcats 40-22 and won with a 5-1 score to earn a spot in the “AA” finals.

Colin Zimmer scored and picked up two assists to earn game MVP. Also scoring for the Northstars were: Chad Marchand, Greg Doll, Devan Herder, and Justin Trautman.

On Sunday, Apr. 1 the Northstars matched up against the Carstairs Red Hawks of the Chinook Hockey League in the “AA” final.

This was a very exciting match-up of evenly talented teams.

The Red Hawks opened the scoring in the first, when they capitalized on a missed clearing pass out of the Northstars’ zone.

Northstars Zimmer scored early in the second from Marchand, then Daysland took the one goal lead when Herder scored from Doll and Dayne Sorensen.

The Red Hawks answered back with one to tie 2-2 after two periods.

The score remained tied until 8:11 of the third, when Doll scored from Herder and Sorensen to give Daysland the lead.

With less than two minutes remaining and Daysland with a man in the penalty box, Carstairs pulled their goalie for two extra attackers.

Short-handed Tyler Hurum found the empty net, assisted by Wolbeck. The net stayed empty until Zimmer scored next, to seal the deal for the Northstars with a 5-2 win. Dean Petiot earned game MVP for Daysland.

Daysland goalie, Andrew Sinclair, was awarded tournament MVP and named to the first All Star Team, an honour hard earned.

Other Daysland players named to the All Star team were Todd Steil, Dean Petiot, and Colin Zimmer.

After the gold medals were handed out, along with championship hats, team captain Todd Steil, along with assistant captains Dayne Sorensen, Curtis Bergstrom, and Dean Petiot, accepted the cup from Dewberry Head Coach Buddy Bens-miller; Kim Marsh, Senior Council of Hockey Alberta; and Ray Marsh, President of the Chinook Hockey League.

Northstars General Manager Dave Pasy-chnyk commented, “It was nice to see how many local fans came, and see great representation from many teams in the BRHL in the stands, we appreciate the support.”