The Estevan Eclipse Downhole Solutions U18 AAA Bears hockey club has announced the first 12 recruits for their inaugural season.
The Bears revealed the commitments via their social media channels on Friday and Saturday. Some of those players already have experience at the U18 (formerly known as midget) level, while others were in U15 (bantam) leagues last season.
The Bears were unable to have a spring camp this year because the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the closure of Affinity Place and other arenas across the province, but the club is still pleased with the talent coming in. Players came from throughout the Bears drawing area of southeast Saskatchewan.
The first player they announced was goaltender Jackson Miller, a 2004-born athlete from Estevan. Miller spent last season with the Estevan Apex midget AA Bruins, and posted a 15-3 record with a 2.10 goals against average and a .918 save percentage for the Bruins, who had the best record in the Saskatchewan Midget AA Hockey League.
The other goaltender to commit is Kelton Pyne, a 2005-born netminder from White City, who played for the Prairie Storm bantam AA program. He had a 10-4-1 record with a 2.68 goals against average and .897 save percentage for the Storm, who were the top team in the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League’s South Division during the regular season.
The club also announced the signing of several defencemen:
· Cade Bendtsen (born in 2003) of Carlyle who played last season with the midget AA Bruins, and had six goals and 25 points in 31 games played.
· Hunter Weber (’03) from Saskatoon, who had one assist in 42 games with the midget AAA Yorkton Maulers.
· Boston Harkness (’05) of White City, who played with the bantam AA Prairie Storm and had four goals and 31 points in 31 games.
· Brady Bye (’04) of White City, who played last season with the Prairie Storm midget AAs and had a goal and 17 points in 35 games played.
The forwards who committed are:
· Ty Mason (’05) of Weyburn, who spent last season playing bantam AAA hockey with the Notre Dame Hounds, and had 12 goals and 25 points in 30 games. He is the son of Willy Mason, who is an assistant coach with the Bears and was part of the Estevan Bruins team that won the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League title in 1999.
· Carson Birnie (’05) of Arcola, who played with the Regina Monarchs bantam AA team last season and had 28 goals and 67 points in 29 games played. He played much of his minor hockey in Estevan.
· Turner McMillen (’03) of Carievale, who spent last season with the Prince Albert Mintos midget AAA program and had 15 goals and 39 points in 44 games played. He played much of his minor hockey in Estevan as well before going to Prince Albert for two seasons of midget AAA. He’s also the younger brother of Bruins defenceman Kade McMillen.
· Zayden Sadlemyer (’05) of Buena Vista, who played last season with the bantam AA Prairie Storm and had 16 goals and 34 points in 31 games.
· Cooper Chisholm (’03), from Weyburn, who played last season with the midget AAA Mintos, and had five goals and 17 points in 40 games.
· Caden Drury (’04) of Carrot River, who played last season with the Prairie Hockey Academy and had six goals and 18 points in 35 games played.
“I’m really happy with the kids we have,” said head coach and general manager Jeff Smith. “There’s a lot of kids who wanted to come back and play for their local team, which is so nice to see and hear.”
When that first player commitment came in, it was a relief, but it was a reminder that now it’s for real and an actual team is being formed. His entire staff was watching to see who had signed, and Smith is looking forward to building excitement for the team.
The 12 players they announced are those they had focused on, and now they’re pursuing the remaining handful of players to round out the roster.
“There might be a kid or two that slips through the cracks in the north that we’re keeping eyes on. It’s always nice to have those extra spots just in case someone does come available.”
The more kids they have from the southeast region, the better they will be.
The lack of a spring camp was challenging. A lot of the kids have not played with each other or against each other, and it would have been a good experience for them to gain chemistry, and for Smith to tell where they would fit in a lineup.
It places an even greater emphasis on their scouting staff.
The Bears are looking for billets for the upcoming year. Four of the 12 players who have committed have family in town and won’t need to be billeted. But Smith still expects they will need 15 billet families for the upcoming season.
One has already stepped forward.
“The difference between billeting a Bruin and a Bear is that the Bears have an actual schedule to follow, meaning they have practice every morning, and then they go to school and then they’re going to have homework, and it’s going to be more structured,” said Smith.
