Five players from the Warman U18AAA Wildcats played a big role in helping Team Saskatchewan come away with a hard earned silver medal at the 2024 National Aboriginal Hockey Champions held in Grande Prairie, Alberta from May 5-11.
The skills of defenceman Jaxon Herchak; and forwards Connor Bear, Kaleb Dewar, Hudson Brehaut and Dylan Danyluk were on display in northern Alberta.
The event brought together the best indigenous U18 hockey talent, as seven teams in male and female divisions played for the title. The competition was intense.
Game one was an 11-1 victory over Eastern Door & North (Quebec). Kaleb Dewar had two goals, Hudson Brehaut had one goal and two assists, Jaxon Herchak one goal and Dylan Danyluk an assist.
Game two was 2-2 tie with host Alberta.
This was followed by 6-3 losses to British Columbia and Manitoba.
This placed Saskatchewan in the qualifying game for a rematch with Team Alberta. This time Saskatchewan brought their A-game.
After a scoreless first period, Alberta took the lead on an early power play goal.
Undeterred, Saskatchewan responded with four goals. Dylan Duzah shot the puck off the goalie from behind the line. Goal number two was a tic-tac-toe beauty when Warman’s Jaxon Herchak passed to Saskatoon’s Raiden Zacharias, who in turn passed to Prince Albert’s Owen Nelson, who eventually buried a one-timer.
Warman’s Connor Bear fired one in from the slot. Owen Nelson scored his second of the period after a mad scramble in front of the net with pressure from Connor Bear and Hudson Brehaut. Alberta made the game 4-2 with a last-minute goal.
Saskatchewan scored early in the third as Nelson threaded the needle from the corner. They would add to that on a power play as Jaxon Herchak’s blast from the point was tipped in by Moose Jaw U18AAA Warriors Dylan Dazan. Alberta scored with two seconds left. Too little, too late. Saskatchewan advanced to the semi-final game against British Columbia.
British Columbia and Manitoba entered the semis with perfect 4-0 records in preliminary play.
Team Ontario would defeat Team Manitoba 4-3 in overtime.
The British Columbia-Saskatchewan match-up was also an overtime thriller.
British Columbia got on the board first. Saskatchewan responded when Prince Albert Mintos Connor Watson stripped a B.C. defender of the puck and made some highlight moves before deking out the goalie and burying the puck.
Yorkton Terriers Shaden Duliak fired a howitzer to give Saskatchewan the lead with a minute remaining in the first.
B.C. converted a two-on-one break late in the second period to tie the game.
Midway through the third period Connor Bear scored on a breakaway.
B.C. would not go away quietly, tying the game with a screen shot from the point one minute later.
This set up an epic winning goal by Raiden Zacharias. The Saskatoon Blazers product was able to tap the puck away from a B.C. player and race the length of the ice, beating the goalie and sending Saskatchewan to the championship game.
Team Ontario took that game with a 5-0 win. Ontario made it a sweep as the girls defeated Alberta 3-0 in their game.