U18 AAA Eastman Selects keeping pace despite offensive woes

The Eastman Selects U18 AAA team found a spectacular way to break out of an offensive slump.

The team blew out Norman 11-1 Dec. 14 at the Southeast Event Centre, ending a spell of four games with just a single even-strength goal.

That lack of offense didn’t stop the team from racking up points, with a pair of extra time losses and a spectacular come from behind win over some of the better teams in the league.

Their most spectacular result came against the Winnipeg Thrashers Dec. 13. Eastman scored three late third period goals to tie a game against the second-place Thrashers, before star defenseman Crosby Mateychuk finished the job in overtime on the powerplay.

Head coach Bruce Sirrell even pulled goaltender Warren Carter with eight minutes to go and his team down three to spark the comeback.

“For 50 minutes, we were pretty pathetic to be honest with you,” Sirrell said after the Thrashers game with a chuckle.

“In fairness to the guys, we’ve lost a lot of games we felt we should have got something out of. Tonight we got a win out of a game we weren’t at our best. We’re going to take it obviously.”

Mateychuk proved why he is considered one of the best players in the province in his age group against the Thrashers, slamming home the tying goal in the final minute and dominating the first 30 seconds of overtime, eventually sniping his second to win it for the Selects.

It was clear throughout the overtime it was Mateychuk’s time to shine, as he played down to the face-off dot in the four-on-three in overtime, eager to stamp his impression on the game.

The 2010-born defenseman leads the U18 AAA league in points for a defenseman by nine already this season and is sixth among all skaters, despite his young age.

Sirrell said Mateychuk has been brilliant at both ends of the ice, but his offensive skills have jumped off the page.

“He’s one of those players that can make some things happen individually, so it’s certainly nice to look down at the bench and see a guy like that,” he said.

The Selects currently sit in sixth place, just three points out of fourth.

“We’ve had some really strong efforts, but we’re kind of just finding our way,” Sirrell said.

“We have a couple good outings, have a bad outing. We’re trying to grind out a culture of be a little bit more sustainable and predictable.”

Eastman has squeaked into the playoffs in the final weekend of the year for two years in a row and run into powerhouse first-place teams. Sirrell said there’s more parity in the league this year.

“We see ourselves in that middle-top tier,” he said.

“It’d be great to host a playoff series, that was our goal at the start of the season. We still have that in our sights, but we’ve definitely got to get a few more wins in the column.”

The Selects final home game of 2025 is Dec. 21 when they take on Yellowhead at 1 p.m.

For more photos, check out Carillon Sports Second shots, coming out this week Dec. 31.