Two local teens are among the 160 Bantam hockey players from across the province that made the cut for the upcoming 2014 ATB Alberta Cup.
Fifteen year olds Matthew Quigley and Riley Romashenko both currently play for the AAA Bantam Rocky Mountain Raiders. Along with 800 hopeful young men, they tried out for the Alberta Cup on the last weekend of March and were both notified at the beginning of April via telephone that they made their respective Zone team.
The Alberta Cup includes eight zone teams from across the province and will play in a four day, tournament format competition in Strathmore April 24 to 27. The rosters are made up of 20 athletes, three coaches, one trainer and one Director of Operations from each zone.
Team South is made up of players from Okotoks, Cochrane, Lethbridge, Canmore, Chestermere, Vauxhall, Airdrie, Rocky View, Priddis and Bellevue.
“The ATB Alberta Cup is always an exciting event, especially since this is the last chance for these players to impress ahead of the WHL Bantam Draft,” said Michael Kraichy, manager of hockey development with Hockey Alberta. “These athletes competed hard at zone camps and it seems like the 1999-born players are going to give everyone quite a show in Strathmore.”
Each of the 160 athletes playing in the ATB Alberta Cup are competing for one of the eighty invites to the U16 Male Provincial Camp in July. The U16 Male Provincial Camp is the final stage in the first year of the Team Alberta Program.
Many of the top male players in Alberta will be identified at this premier event which is well attended by scouts as they prepare for the WHL’s bantam draft.
The opportunity to participate in the event is an incredible honor for these elite athletes who have dedicated over half of their lives to the sport.
“It means the world to me, I feel honored to represent my zone (Team South) and my Town of Chestermere at the Alberta Cup Tournament,” said Quigley, who plays defence.
“I was nervous waiting for the call, it takes hard work, and I was commitment to giving it my all at the tryouts and was hoping for the best outcome so when I got the call I felt that all of the hard work throughout the year and at the tryouts paid off, I was very excited.”
Romashenko, is also looking forward to playing in the Alberta Cup and knows that to succeed he needs to be his best both on and off the ice. “For me it took lots of hard work on and off the ice, practicing all aspects of the game and off ice strength training and conditioning,” said the young forward player.
“We were told by the coaching staff that we needed to show a strong skill set, along with character, leadership, and a strong sense of the game to make this team” added Romashenko.
Former ATB Alberta Cup graduates include current NHLers Braden Holtby, Devin Setoguchi, Zach Boychuk, Kyle Brodziak, Dany Heatley, Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf, Scott Hartnell, Jordan Eberle, Devan Dubnyk, Andrew Ference and Chris Phillips.
The tournament will be held April 24 to 27 at the Strathmore Arena. The complete schedule and team rosters are available on line at www.hockeyalberta.ca and you can also follow Team South on Twitter @ABCupSouth. The public is encouraged to come out and cheer on these talented young players
