Game On Magazine - April 2017 Game on Preview Edition | Page 40

ST. MALO WARRIORS
The Warriors were built to
win last year and head coach
and GM Ralph Collette knows
it’s going to be difficult to
replace the two outstanding
veterans he’s lost.
“I think we’ll be OK, but
it’s not easy to replace Mr.
(Jared) Magne and Mr. (Riley)
Hunter,” Collette admitted.
“You just don’t replace guys
with that much speed and
skill.”
While replacing his top
two scorers will be impos-
sible, he will have some pretty
solid forwards this season.
Elmar Tabler, who played
two seasons with the Selkirk
Steelers, is back this season, as
are Jared Hunter and Dustin
Wiebe. As well, defensemen
Mark Nelson and Brandon
Stratton will also return.
“I’m excited about our
season,” Collette said. “I’ve
hired Dennis Senebald as my
assistant coach and although
we were very disappointed we
didn’t win it all last season, we
have a good enough nucleus to
challenge again.”
OCN STORM
Jeremy Hohn has decided
not to coach this season and,
instead, has hired James
Lathlin to handle the bench
and practice duties for the
Storm.
However, Hohn has re-
mained as general manager
and he’s expecting big things
from the Storm this season.
“We lose two really impor-
tant players to graduation –
Camacho Lathlin and Harold
Linklater – and two other
players, Darian Young and
Edward LaChose, but that’s it,”
said Hohn. “We also lost our
St. Malo head coach Ralph Collette
leading scorer, Tony Apetagon,
who signed with the Blizzard
and three guys are going to try
the Jr. A route – Austin Caza,
But we have some solid play-
ers back: Broady Personius, a
21-year-old local kid who will
be a big part of our lineup,
along with Brandon Sinclair-
Martin, Bryson Werbicki-
Mallet and Devon Tobacco,
who has great hands around
the net.
“And Mitchell Tilley has re-
signed so he’ll be starting his
fourth year with us. However,
the most interesting signing
is an 18-year-old goalie from
England named Dominic Jolly.
I’m really excited to have him
here this year, because he’s
a goalie who might just be
part of our program for a long
while. We might have been
even better last year (22-9-3)
with better goaltending.”
This team will be younger
in 2017-18, but it will also be
one of the teams to beat.
Last year, the Fishermen
were taken out by the eventual
KJHL and provincial champi-
on Peguis Juniors after going
24-10-0 during the regular
season.
This year, Poponick loses
four players, that he says,
“weren’t our big stars, but
they were good leaders and
teammates.”
Returning are two of the
best players in the KJHL:
Selkirk’s leading scorer last
year, Milan Horanski, and
goaltender Riley
Bannerman. Horanski
had 46 goals and
72 points in
34 games while Bannerman
was just about the best goalie
in the league with a record of
13-5-0 to go with a 2.12 goals
against average and a .924
save percentage.
“We’ll lose Bronson Kelly
to the Steelers and two other
players, Kaden Kotowich and
Thomas Mironuk are going to
try Jr. A,” said Poponick, but
Griffin Steeves is back and
so are three of my top four
scorers.
“But we’ll have to wait and
see what happens to a number
of guys. When the season
opens, I’ll either have eight
or 15 guys back, depending
on what they decide to do.
But we’ve also got a nice crop
of rookies so I’m not at all
concerned about how we’ll
shape up.”
SELKIRK FISHERMEN
Selkirk Fishermen GM and
head coach Chris Poponick,
never worries about putting
a good product on the ice.
The Fish might not win every
KJHL championship, but
they certainly challenge
for everyone.
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Selkirk Fishermen goaltender,
Riley Bannerman