Fresh-faced Eastman Selects team eager to compete

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This article was published 08/10/2024 (210 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Editor’s Note: This story was published in the Oct. 3 print edition of The Carillon.

It didn’t take a detailed hockey-watcher to realize the male 2024/2025 Eastman Selects U18 AAA roster looks a lot different than last season.

With plenty of graduations, only a few players on the team had names on the backs of their jerseys when they began the season with a pair of home games Sept. 28 and 29 in Beausejour.

“Obviously tryouts were highly competitive, there were lots of jobs to be had,” Selects head coach Bruce Sirrell said after those games.

“I think we’ve got a good mix of very talented guys that have stepped up from the U17 program. They’re coming in here and they’re looking fantastic.”

Sirrell said he was happy with the group of players who are choosing to remain with the U18 AAA program in the region and expects the Selects to compete with every team in the league.

More and more players from the region are playing with hockey academies instead of remaining with the Eastman program.

Recruitment of players from the southern portion of Eastman’s catchment area could get tougher starting this season, as the U17 AAA program moved from Ste Anne to Garson to make room for Ste Anne’s Hanover-Tache Junior Hockey League team.

A pair of potential 2009-born players, in Mitchell’s William Picklyk and Steinbach’s Asher Gingras, are playing at the Pilot Mound Hockey Academy this season. That’s in addition to the players already suiting up for the Rink Hockey Academy in Winnipeg.

“I’m not going to begrudge or try and talk anyone out (of going to a hockey academy),” Sirrell said.

“There’s certainly merit to going other places to play as well, but we want guys who want to be here and I think we have that.”

The U18 Selects came out of the week’s action with a win and a loss, dropping a 6-4 decision to the Winnipeg Wild before dominating the Central Plains Capitals 6-1.

Hirst said he liked how the team played in the opening game despite the loss, as Eastman went blow for blow with a Wild team which finished last season third in the league standings.

The Selects not only out-shot Winnipeg 36-34, but also battled back from an early 2-0 deficit to take a second period lead. They even tied the game again after an early third period Wild goal before the visitors finally took the lead for good.

“That game could have easily flopped either way,” Sirrell said.

“Overall, the start of the season, I like the team. I think we’ve got a lot of speed, a lot of energy… It seems like we’ve got a good mix of character on the team, which is key.”

The next afternoon saw a dominant performance for Eastman, especially in the third period. The team only allowed three shots in the frame as they turned a 3-1 game into a 6-1 blowout.

“I thought we played well throughout the whole game, but definitely in the third period we started making a little bit quicker passes, quicker decisions on the puck,” Sirrell said.

“As a result we had a lot more puck possession and a lot more offensive zone time.”

Kasen Mateychuk appears poised to pick up right where he left off last season. In his second year playing with the Selects he finished with 28 points as a defenseman, while seeing action in the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League with Transcona, notching up two playoff goals.

Against Central Plains, he looked dominant, scoring three points including an absolute highlight-reel goal. Mateychuk, the brother of 2022 NHL first-round draft pick Denton Mateychuk, took a pass at the point and promptly blitzed down the ice towards the net, before roofing the puck past the Capitals’ goaltender’s shoulder for a goal. Mateychuk is serving as the team’s captain this year.

It was one of two spectacular third-period goals for Eastman. Just a few minutes after Mateychuck’s marker, Seth Hooper lost his stick while killing a penalty but still managed to push the puck out of the defensive zone using his skate. The play continued to an Eastman breakaway, as Lucas Laramee drew a penalty shot he promptly converted, going five hole to give the Selects an insurmountable lead.

“I think we have a decent starting hockey IQ too, I think a lot of guys are very smart,” Sirrell said when asked about his team’s strengths this season.

“We have some returning guys we really like… Overall our team strength is going to be work ethic and speed.”

A game between Eastman and Interlake in Tuelon took place after press time Oct. 2. The Selects will be out of town next weekend for a back-to-back against Parkland before returning to Beausejour Oct. 12 to face Kenora.