The north and south team rosters for the 26th annual Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League all-star game, hosted by the St. Albert Gregg Distributors, are expected to be finalized next week.
The Western Hockey League sponsored event is Jan. 9 at 2:15 p.m. at Go Auto Arena.
The Sabres will be represented by three players and both goalies, Evan Fradette and Ryley Osland, are in the running to make the north team.
The Sabres (17-4-4) were ranked second in the nitro north division and fourth overall in the AMBHL entering Monday’s game against the KC Squires (8-6-7) at Clareview Arena. The score was unavailable at press time.
The nitro-leading Sherwood Park Flyers (21-2-1) and the Lethbridge Golden Hawks (21-3-1) of the ram south division were tied for top spot overall with 43 points apiece and the Calgary Bisons (20-2-2) of the challenger south division were second, four points up on the Sabres.
All four teams will join the third-place SSAC Southgate Lions (15-6-2) in the nitro standings and the ram south Rocky Mountain Raiders (16-7-3) at the 16-team John Reid Memorial Tournament, Jan. 14 to 17 in St. Albert.
Visit www.johnreidmemorial.com for more information.
The 36th annual Edmonton Invitational Bantam Tournament of Champions starts Sunday for the bantam AA St. Albert Comets at Callingwood Recreation Centre.
The Comets play the GPAC Coyote North Storm at 5:15 p.m. in the red division.
Games are also scheduled next week against SSAC Barbecue Country at 3 p.m. Monday, Strathcona Warriors at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday and Fort St. John Flyers at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The finals are Thursday.
The tournament features 14 bantam AA teams and six bantam AAA teams.
Visit www.edmbantamtourney.com for schedules and results.
The Comets skate into the tournament as the No. 1 Edmonton Rural Bantam AA Hockey League team at 16-2-1in the metro blue division.
Defenceman Tyler MacDonald, forward Ben Brown and goalie Ethan Barwick represented the Comets on the metro red/blue team at the recent ERBHL all-star game. Head coach Tom Curr and his staff ran the red/blue bench. The rural white/black team won 8-1.
Defenceman Matt Offenburger and forward Ethan Leyer of the St. Albert Blues and defenceman Tyson Kowalyk and forward Preston Leung of the St. Albert Bears also participated in the all-star game.
The Blues (12-5-4) and Bears (10-6-3) are first and second, respectively, in the metro red division.
