Strudwick, McLennan and Brown a hit in Lethbridge

RED DEER - While it’s a common sight every winter to see outdoor rinks across Canada full of youngsters learning to skate, you’ll also see the odd adult hitting the ice for the very first time.

Although admittedly “late to the party”, Duane Moleni took the opportunity this past winter to embrace Canada’s pastime. Originally from New Zealand, he moved to Canada 11 years ago, but only decided to learn to skate this year.

“Peer pressure,” Moleni said of his motivation to take up hockey. “When you’re in a country like Canada, and hockey’s a national sport, I think I’d being doing a disservice to myself if I didn’t come out and try to at least learn to skate. Winter in most parts of this country is six-plus months long, so I’d go crazy if I didn’t come out and do this.”

Moleni works with the Central Alberta Refugee Effort (C.A.R.E.), which hosted the Learn to Skate in Red Deer, an initiative the Hockey Alberta Foundation partnered to help deliver. The Learn to Skate program ran Saturdays during the winter at an outdoor community rink, offering New Canadians of all skill levels a chance to play hockey, or learn the basics of the game.

“It’s fantastic, the facility and the ice is fantastic, as is the support from the Hockey Alberta Foundation,” Moleni said. “You’ve got kids playing hockey, and you’ve got kids who are learning to skate working with coaches as well, which is where I’m at. It’s fantastic, just little techniques that when I first started learning how to skate, I had no idea, and no one showed me what to do or gave me any tips, so it’s just helping me get that confidence to keep going and try and a little bit harder, and do a little bit more, and lo and behold, I’ll be doing a toe-pick triple-axle in no time.”

A former Rugby player, Moleni said the concept of hockey is something he’s still learning, even after living in Canada for more than ten years.

“It blows my mind that in this sport, you can go crazy fast on a surface like ice, with steel blades that are miniscule, and you make it look effortless," he said. "Then you throw in a puck and stick-handling, and navigating through players that are out there that are allowed to hit you, it blows my mind, that’s why I love the sport.”

After more than a decade of watching the sport, Moleni can pinpoint his love of the sport to one source - one of the hardest-hitting, toughest hockey players of all-time.

“When I first started watching the sport, Scott Stevens was (my idol), he was awesome," Moleni said. "He’s big, he’s strong, skates really well obviously, but the guy was just physically dominant. That’s not what hockey’s about, and hockey has changed since then.”

Moleni’s determination and attitude caught the attention of many at the rink, especially the people who were helping him.

"Duane is one of the big reasons why we had so much fun working with the C.A.R.E. program this winter," said Tim Leer, the Hockey Albert Foundation’s Executive Director. "Although we were there as part of the Every Kid Every Community program, Duane proved that it’s never too late to learn how to play."

With a full season on the ice now under his belt, Moleni said he’ll continue to work on his skating and skills, and without a doubt will be found out on the ice once again every Saturday this coming winter.

Hockey Alberta is proud to unveil a new section at hockeyalberta.ca. Home Ice Feature stories will focus on interesting stories about the individuals and groups who make a difference within the hockey community in Alberta. If you have a suggestion for a Home Ice Feature story, email [email protected].

LETHBRIDGE - After a slow start to the tournament, South Black defeated North Grey 4-1 to capture the 2017 Peewee Prospects Cup.

South Black and North Grey both lost their first games of the week, but both rebounded to finish second in their respective pools, and won their semi-final games to earn a berth in the championship final.

It’s an extra-special victory for South Black Captain Liam Watkins and teammate Gavin Schmidt, as their older brothers Lucas and Hayden won the Alberta Cup with Team South just two weeks prior.

South Black’s win also marked a clean sweep for South teams this year, with South winning the Alberta Cup, and South Black winning the Alberta Challenge.

Prior to the Championship game, the 2015 Peewee Prospects Cup Champions, Capital Green claimed third place with a 5-1 win over Calgary White.

The next Peewee Prospects Cup will be held in 2019.

Schedule/Results > | Roster >

CALGARY - Six Albertans were on the list as Hockey Canada announced it’s 28-player Olympic Centralized roster on Thursday.

Goaltender Shannon Szabados (Edmonton) and Defender Meaghan Mikkelson (St. Albert) were both selected as players. Melody Davidson, James Emery (Calgary), Brad Kirkwood (Calgary), and Christine Atkins (Fort Mcleod) are all a part of the team staff.

Szabados, Mikkelson, and 26 other players will be centralized in Calgary throughout the 2017-18 season in preparation for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Emerance Maschmeyer (Bruderheim) is one of two alternate goaltenders who will be available to support the centralization roster throughout the 2017-18 season but will remain with their club teams.

Hockey Alberta is proud to unveil a new section at hockeyalberta.ca. Home Ice Feature stories will focus on interesting stories about the individuals and groups who make a difference within the hockey community in Alberta. If you have a suggestion for a Home Ice Feature story, email [email protected].

OLDS - South Black went wire-to-wire as the tournament’s top team to win the 2017 Alberta Challenge.

South Black went undefeated (4-0-1) through the tournament, and clinched the Alberta Challenge with a 1-0 win over South White.

This is a special win for South Black’s DOP Val Alexander, who’s daughter Cylenna won the last Alberta Challenge as DOP with the North Predators in 2015. Alexander was also in competition with daughter Channia this weekend, who served as DOP for the North Grey team.

South Green claimed bronze earlier in the day. A couple of second period goals saw them defeat the third place ranked South Yellow by a score of 2-1.

Earlier in the day North Blue defeated North Grey by a score of 3-1 to claim fifth place in the tournment.

2017 is the first year the Alberta Challenge has been held in Olds. The next Alberta Challenge will take place in 2019.

Standings > | Leaders > | Schedule >

Day One Recap > | Day Two Recap > | Day Three Recap >

5TH Place

North Blue 3 - North Grey 1

Players of the Game: North Blue - #10 Alexis Butz | North Grey -#9 Payton Basterash

Boxscore >

Bronze Final

South Green 2 - North Yellow 1

Players of the Game: South Green- #16 Isobel Pettem-Shand | North Yellow - #9 Jillian Gulli

Boxscore >

Gold Final

South Black 1 - South White 0

Players of the Game: South Black - #17 Josie McLeod | South White - #4 Gracie Gilkyson

Boxscore >

Alberta Built Player of the Day

The Alberta Built player of the day is the athlete who best exemplifies the qualities of an "Alberta Built" player. Alberta Built is defined as:

1 - Good person - Know who you are.
2 - Character player - Believe in yourself.
3 - Grit player - Thrive on adversity
4 - Leadership - Treat yourself & people right
5 - Standard of performance - Focused approach on process - ALWAYS COMPETE - EVERY-DAYERS