Saskatchewan’s best U15 hockey players faced off against one another over the weekend in Balgonie.
The Hockey Saskatchewan Top 80 tournament brought together athletes who are aspiring to represent Saskatchewan on the national stage in the fall at the WHL cup.
“When you get the top 80 kids in the province, the pace goes up. Yesterday’s games were quite physical and competitive, which is great, that’s what we want to season,” Joel Houseman, coordinator of high performance for Hockey Sask said.
“Kids are working really hard trying really hard. It’s good for them. So it’s good for us to watch.”
This particular tournament follows the U16 160 tournament, where these athletes battled it out for invites to this tournament.
Now, they are competing once again as less than half will be chosen to move on to the next phase of the process.
“We’re going to cut it down to about around 30 players after this. It’s a big opportunity for them. Obviously there’s lots of WHL, GM and SJHL here with their draft coming up and that’s all scouts as well,” Houseman said.
“So good opportunity for them for the provincial team, but just for the for hockey future in general.”
Houseman added that the weekend has been a testament to the province’s hockey talent. He shared that the process of selecting the top players will not be an easy one.
“We obviously have a high calibre of hockey talent that the players are getting better and better every year and it’s fun to watch them, develop and grow as people and hockey players and keep striving to chase their goals, which is to, you know, move up the hockey ladder here.”
Those selected to make up Team Saskatchewan, will take part in some summer and fall training camps before heading to the WHL cup in October.
