MJHL’s top players aiming for spot on Team Canada

Four Steinbach Pistons were joined by Niverville Nighthawks player in Saskatchewan this week, hoping to impress Team Canada staff and earn a spot at the World Junior A Challenge.

Steinbach’s Zhenya Miles, Rory Gilmour, Evan Gradt and Brody Green and Niverville’s Loik Leduc were named to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League team for the Western All-Star Challenge. The team was open to U19 players.

St Adolphe’s Graeme Pickering, who plays for Winkler in the MJHL, was also named to the roster, one of just two 2009-born players to make the cut.

Forty players from the Manitoba and Saskatchewan leagues were in Martensville battling for a spot on Team Canada West. The two leagues split a pair of one-goal decisions in their two games played Nov. 4 and 5.

One of those who kept a close eye on the event is Niverville general manager Mike McAulay. He was announced as Team Canada West’s director of operations, and has been criss-crossing the prairies as he attempts to build a winning roster.

“It’s been a very condensed mandate to try and get this team picked,” McAulay said, in the middle of a drive to Whitecourt, Alberta to watch the Wolverines take on Lloydminster in Alberta league action Oct. 28.

“It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been interesting to see each different league and how they operate.”

Winnipeg Blues head coach Josh Gratton and former Norman coach Eric Labrosse are also on staff.

“You start with a really long list of players, then that list can get shortened down to a medium list and right now we’re trying to shrink that medium list down to a little more of a short list,” McAulay said.

“That’s been the most fun part of the job, it’s also been the most challenging. There’s a lot of hockey players to look at and a lot of hockey to watch in a short amount of time.”

McAulay said his FloHockey account has been getting a workout as well as his vehicle. Team staff have the ability to isolate a single player and watch all of their shifts in a row.

“You sit down, put the Jays on in the background, but you’re kind of watching your laptop and watching the game,” McAulay said.

“If I really want to sit down and roll up my sleeves on a player I can pull their InStat and essentially watch the last three games they played in a matter of 45 minutes to an hour.”

Canada West has won six gold medals across 17 appearances at the tournament, only trailing the United States.

“It’s been an honour to be involved in this process, so we’re working as hard as we can to ice the best possible team to represent our country,” McAulay said.

“It’s special for these players to be able to pull the Maple Leaf on.”

The work McAulay is doing for Team Canada is similar to what he does for the Nighthawks.

“That’s a lot of a scout’s life,” he said.

“You go to a rink, you zero in on a player or two and you spend a lot of time watching them and what they do, their habits, their tendencies, how they carry themselves and their body language, how they treat their teammates. All that stuff gets picked up on.”

The 2025 World Junior A Challenge is in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec in early December. Last year’s Team Canada West won a bronze medal, helped by Lorette’s Avery Laliberte (who played for Niverville) and Oakbank’s Reece Gault (who played for Steinbach).

For more MJHL coverage, including game recaps, stats and standings, check out the Carillon’s print edition.