AA Atom - The AA atoms Barons are hot and it showed after the team hosted and won the Battlefords Barons' Blast tournament last weekend.
The Barons advanced to the final after beating the Saskatoon Red Wing Thunder 7-2 and Prince Albert Red Canadians 6-2 in their pool. In the final, the Barons came from down 5-2 with 13 minutes left to beat Lloydminster 6-5.
The championship medals from the Barons' Blast accompany those earned after winning the Martensville tournament and finishing second at the Wainwright, Alta. tournament earlier this season.
The Barons' roster includes two goalies and 15 skaters and appears to be the winning combination, as the team that plays only tournaments and exhibition games is 14-5-0 on the season. After selecting the team in October, the Barons attended a Skills of Gold camp in Lashburn to polish their skills and haven't looked back.
The Barons have two, possibly three, tournaments remaining this season along with a handful of exhibition games. The season will come to an end likely late in March for the Barons.
Coach Jason L'Heureux and his staff are happy with the improvement and progression of the players through the season and hope for it to continue into the final month.
AA Peewee - The end of the regular season is less than a month away and the Battlefords Peewee AA Barons are perched in the middle of the Centre Four Hockey League standings with a 6-11-1 record.
The Barons are also set to begin their provincial playoff run. They will be in Warman Friday and play game two of the two-game total-goal series Sunday at the Don Ross Arena.
The Barons have three more wins than Warman this season, but both teams have won a game in the head-to-head series during the regular season.
The Barons' top scorer is Rett Taggart, who is tied for 14th in the league with 22 points in 18 games.
AA Bantam - In the first year of the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League, the Battlefords Barons are certainly holding their own.
The Barons are 3-0-2 in 2012 and have an 8-6-3 record putting them in a tie for third in the North Division.
This past weekend, the Barons beat Humboldt 4-2, as Wyatt Malenfant earned the win and Keegan Duret and Colton Iron both had two goals.
Saturday, Mathew Flath earned the 4-4 tie in the Barons' net against Yorkton. Iron, again, had two goals while Brandon Lesko and Troy Gerein had the other goals.
Sunday in Melfort, Malenfant stopped 43 shots in the 4-1 Barons' win. Iron added another goal to his total as did Layne Young and Keifer Hintz added two goals.
The Barons are back in action Saturday, as they host Humboldt.
This season, the Battlefords and the five other teams in the North Division all make the playoffs with the top two teams earning a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
After a winner in the North Division is crowned, the provincial and league title will be up for grabs in a series against the South Division. That division has 12 teams including Notre Dame, whose record is not factored into the playoff format.
"We have a great bunch of coaches and managers from all the teams," said league president Larry Kienas. "Everyone has worked hard to make it work."
The unbalanced North and South schedule was accepted by all the teams according to Kienas. They all did their best to make it work and fundraise to ease the cost of bus trips and hotels. Overall, he is happy with the inaugural season.
At the spring meeting in May, Kienas mentioned many pros and cons from the first season will be discussed and adjustments could be made for next season. One thing he and teams in the North Division especially would be in favour of would be to have six Saskatoon teams join the league. The Saskatoon teams choose to opt out of the league this season, which lead to the unbalanced North and South Division.
Other things such as the two-referee, one linesman system used to official the games, which was copied from the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League, will be evaluated and the playoff format.
The Barons wrap up the regular season Feb. 18 and will begin playoffs.
AA Midget - The Battlefords Midget AA Barons missed the opportunity to play in the provincial tournament due to their 2-13-1 record, but they have five games and nearly a month remaining to move from 11th to eighth and make the playoffs in the Centre Four Hockey League.
Derek Sutherland and Tyler Cockburn have been a strong goaltending duo for the Barons this season, but the team has allowed the most goals this season and scored the second fewest.
Last week, the Barons were shutout by Warman, but are looking to rebound against Unity this weekend and make a strong push in the final month of the season.
